Shout Factory launches free streaming with Mystery Science Theater 3000 and more

The company, which distributes licensed programming for the home-video market, kicked off the new “Shout Factory TV” service with over 1,000 hours of free, ad-supported video. Similar to the free version of Hulu and Sony’s Crackle service, the service will be available on Roku and online immediately, with its arrival on other devices expected to happen soon.

As with similar services, more programming will be added each month, with some titles cycling out of the streaming offerings.

“[DVDs are] still a good business for us, but digital growth is undeniable, and erosion of DVD sales is accepted,” said Shout Factory president and co-founder Garson Foos in a statement accompany the launch of the service. “We’ve been succeeding in acquiring digital rights on a lot of content… but the big household-name providers like Netflix and Hulu are not as interested in niche, library content, which is where we focus.”

In addition to Mystery Science Theater 3000, the service will also provide free episodes of the Adult Swim animated series Home Movies, as well as episodes of It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, Father Knows Best, Dennis the Menace, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, and The Ernie Kovacs Show, among other niche series. Television specials also offered on the service include Steve Martin’s Comedy Is Not Pretty and Steve Martin: Wild and Crazy Guy, as well as Mel Brooks: Make a Noise.

An eclectic mix of feature films are also available on Shout Factory TV, including several movies by Werner Herzog, some films by Roger Corman, and the Marx Brothers’ A Night in Casablanca, to name just a few.

“We want to be the deep-fan, cult-audience channel,” said Foos of the choice of programming made available on the service.

You can access Shout Factory TV online at ShoutFactoryTV.com.