| By :
Columbus Kimber
Decades ago, watching movies in the comfort of your own home meant waiting months or even years for the movie to be shown on network television, and then came local movie rental stores, and costly rental fees. Today, the options have expanded, offering consumers access to movies virtually on demand with the click of a button. As traditional movie rental stores fade away and other options begin to appear, many budget-savvy consumers want to know the best way to get easy access to premium movies without paying an arm and a leg. Is ordering premium channels for movies a more affordable option than renting or streaming? The Benefits of Premium Movie Subscriptions Programming providers offer movie channel subscriptions as add-ons to regular programming packages. The channels play newly-released movies that would otherwise cost you as much as $5 to download from a pay-per-view or instant movie rental service. Furthermore, you pay one low premium each month for unlimited access to round-the-clock movies. Imagine watching just 15 movies per month on movie channels. You would have been paying as much a s$75 in rental fees if you had downloaded each one individually. Movie Channels Vs. Kiosk Rentals How often have you thought that by paying only paying $1 you would be getting a bargain as you go by or visit one of those movie rental kiosks on your way out of the grocery store. While that may be true, those kiosks bank on the fact that you will keep the movie more than one night, at which time you are charged again. In fact, according to the New York Times, the leading kiosk company averaged $2 per rental in 2009 - an average that has since grown due to higher nightly rates. Assuming you rented just three movies per week and kept them for two nights each at $1.50 per night, you are spending almost $40 per month in rental fees for just eight movies. You could have viewed countless more movies for the same or less cost had you decided to order premium movies through your programming provider - not to mention the money you save on gas traveling to and from those DVD and BluRay kiosks. Movie Streaming Services And Per Rental Fees You can usually get premium movie channels for less than the cost of a streaming movie service and will save money over the pay per movie viewing option they can offer. Movies are on around the clock, and if you own a digital video recorder (DVR), you can record them when you aren't home and save them for later viewing. Having pre-programmed movies may bring movie choices to mind you never would have thought of on your own. Additionally, premium movie channels are included in your regular programming bill, as opposed to streaming movie memberships, which often require a separate payment. The money saving choice is clearly to get movie channel subscriptions, and all of the additional benefits just make it that much more appealing.
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