Whoops! Warner Brothers app was mistakenly released in U.S.
What was a boon to cord cutters ends up being just a tease. The app was only meant for select overseas markets.
- SABEW Best in Business 2011 Award for Breaking News Coverage, Eddie Award in 2020 for 5G coverage, runner-up National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award for culture analysis.
Warner Bros. seemingly threw a bone to cord-cutters and mobile TV watchers on Friday with the release of an app for hit shows such as "Gossip Girl" and "The Big Bang Theory." It turns out, not so much.
The company pulled the app from the U.S. iTunes store shortly after it was made available. The Day After US app was actually intended just for the Benelux region -- Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg -- to give them a place to purchase TV shows.
The app was free to download, although the shows had to be purchased. Only three shows were available on the app: "The Big Bang Theory," "Gossip Girl," and "The Vampire Diaries."
As an example of pricing, individual episodes in standard definition cost $3, while the HD versions are $4. Season passes for the current seasons of "The Big Bang Theory" and "The Vampire Diaries" run $38 in SD or $44 in HD, while the current season of "Gossip Girl" costs $25 for SD or $31 for HD.
Mobile apps have increasingly filled the hole of TV and movie entertainment for cord-cutters, or consumers who choose to opt out of paying for traditional cable TV service. Netflix, Hulu+, and several network apps are available to tablets and smartphones. But there remains resistance to getting newer shows available either online or through mobile apps.