Between late 2015 and the summer of 2017, movie studio Lionsgate launched four niche subscription streaming services, one each targeting film buffs, comic fanatics, Spanish language movie fans and fans of comedian Kevin Hart. Today, the subscription service Comic-Con HQ has closed, and Lionsgate is weighing whether to close the film buff service, Tribeca Shortlist.
Lionsgate’s 50% success rate shows how much subscription streaming is a hit-or-miss business. Nearly a decade after Netflix launched its streaming service, hundreds of others have followed, as everyone from traditional media companies to startups vie for a share of the market. Amazon offers close to 200 streaming services owned by other companies through its Channels feature on Prime Video, one measure of the number of services that now exist.
