Lifetime bets you will pay $3.99-a-month to watch sappy movies

Announced earlier this week by A+E Networks, the Lifetime channel has launched a streaming video on demand (SVOD) service called the Lifetime Movie Club. Debuting on iOS mobile devices first (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch) with Android and other platforms to follow, the Lifetime Movie Club is a $3.99-a-month subscription service that offers access to more than 30 movies at any given time. These movies are limited to films specifically produced by Lifetime for television, not major releases that appear in theaters.

Absent of commercial breaks, the movies included within the service will be tied to the same theme that’s being used on the Lifetime channel. For example, the current “Summer Lovin’” theme will include summer themed titles in the mix. Pulling from an existing library of more than 300 films, movies will be added and removed based off the ongoing theme. Other upcoming themes will include “Dramatic Affairs, Murder & Mayhem, Ripped from the Headlines and Teen Troubles.”

However, there will be some films that exist on the service outside of the current theme due to popularity of the film or specifically including notable stars. Some of those titles include “Flowers in the Attic, Coco Chanel, A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story, The Trip to Bountiful, Too Young to Marry, and Dawn Anna.” It’s possible that list will soon include the Will Ferrell, Kristin Wigg Lifetime movie A Deadly Adoption as well as the upcoming unauthorized Full House story.

A+E Networks is also considering a SVOD application to feature content on the History Channel, but plans for that application haven’t been made public as of yet. It’s likely that the success or lack thereof of the Lifetime Movie Club application will determine how future streaming options are structured and eventually offered to the public by A+E Networks. By only offering a portion of Lifetime’s content, A+E Networks can get a feel for the demand of the streaming service before making the entire channel available to cord cutters.