This New $3 Streaming Service Will Have ‘Party Down’ and Other Great Comedies

It might feel like that as a society, we’ve already reached a maximum saturation for streaming services. There’s the OG, Netflix. The big budget swinger, Apple TV+. The “What’s going on here?” of Amazon Prime. Plus Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max neé Max neé HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+, AMC+ and Showtime. There’s probably a few more I’m missing as well. Plus, you can stack or bundle some of these services too — making one giant, Frankenstein streaming service. 

But despite this surplus in options, there’s still another entry into the streaming wars: Roku. Yeah, the Roku of Roku city. Roku TVs are already in the homes of roughly 90 million Americans — so there’s a built-in audience of potential customers. Plus, from a pricing standpoint the new service, called Howdy, is pretty competitive. Howdy will cost customers just $2.99 a month, and it will be ad-free. The cheapest tiers of other platforms start at around $8 per month, and that price point typically includes a lot of ads. 

Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood told Deadline that Howdy is “a response to the reality that many consumers are interested in a service that is ad-free and low-cost. A large part of subscription viewing is library content. We feel Howdy is in an excellent position to win over those viewers who want to unwind with some of their favorite movies and TV shows, uninterrupted. ”

Enough of the PR-speak, though. Will Howdy even be worth that $3? A browse of the platform’s content reveals that it will have plenty of comedy shows worth revisiting. There’s the Adam Scott hit Party Down, the original The Pink Panther cartoon, The Addams Family, Mr. Bean, Alf, The Nanny, The Carol Burnett Show, Bewitched, Republic of Doyle and Dead Like Me. 

There’s a good selection of comedy films as well — e.g., McLintock!, Fargo, Trading Places, The Birdcage, Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Cannonball. Their library will be made up of material from Warner Bros. Discovery and Lionsgate to start, though there will eventually be a full slate of Roku originals available on the platform too. 

Who knows how long Howdy will actually remain $3 — the Roku suits say it won’t get more expensive for a while, but with streaming prices constantly increasing, it’s hard to imagine it will stay that affordable for long. But while it’s so cheap, it could be a great way to curb your subscription spending for a few months. 

In this economy, every dollar counts.