Plex is one step closer to becoming the only piece of streaming software that you’ll ever need. Later this year, the popular media server solution will let users stream Warner Bros. movies for free, although you’ll have to sit through some ads to access the content.
“Our mission is to tame the growing chaos in the media landscape,” Keith Valory, Plex CEO, said in a statement. “Licensing these movies from Warner Bros. enables us to offer more types of third-party content than any other platform and bring it all together in one beautiful solution.”
Plex did not announce which Warner Bros. productions would be available through the platform, nor when the program is expected to launch, although it promised to release more details soon.
The Plex software is already one of the most popular solutions for building a home-based media server, and makes it easy to both organize your collection of digital movies, television shows, and music and to stream your media from your computer or home network to other devices, including your 4K TV.
Plex also streams online content like music from Tidal, podcasts, and webseries, manages live TV broadcasts via an antenna and a tuner, and doubles as a DVR for a premium fee. The ability to use Plex to manage content from third-party streaming services like Netflix and Hulu via add-ons was removed last fall.
However, Plex’s partnership with Warner Bros. brings the platform closer to ad-supported movie and TV services like Sony’s Crackle, IMDB TV, and the Roku channel, which offer a rotating selection of free movies from major studios.
The addition of free, ad-supported movie streaming to Plex’s growing lineup of features shouldn’t come as a surprise to everyday Plex users. In January 2019, Scott Hancock, Plex’s vice president of marketing, told Digital Trends that the company was looking into building both ad-supported and subscription-based media streaming services into the Plex software as part of its effort to make Plex the “central point for the media that’s most important to you.”
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. has its own streaming solution on the way. It’ll be called HBO Max, and unlike Plex’s ad-based option, you’ll need to pay an estimated $17 monthly subscription fee to access it.
