You’ll be able to stream as much The Morning Show as your body can this weekend, thanks to a new promotion from Apple TV+. After teasing some Apple TV+ news on social media, Apple has confirmed that from January 3 to 5 you’ll be able to watch the company’s original shows and movies without a paid subscription, provided you have an Apple ID.
Apple has included shows like Silo, which is in the final half of its current season, and Severance, whose long-awaited second season premieres on January 17 (you can watch the first eight minutes of the premiere right now), but there’s a decent list of TV shows and movies beyond the well-known hits.
Why not stream the three-hour director’s cut of Napoleon? Or the sadly ended cult baby horror series Servant? Theoretically it’s all on the menu.
While this kind of promotional experiment is new for Apple, Netflix has offered free weekends before to drum up interest in subscriptions.
One way to look at Apple’s streaming strategy is that it’s speedrunning lessons that streamers like Netflix and Hulu have learned over the years, from risking spending serious money on auteurist passion products to now retreating from theatrical distribution, which is one of the few things that made Apple different from its competitors. Maybe a free weekend will bring the company a few more subscribers, but at least it’s a great opportunity to watch some great shows.