This digital Blockbuster clone is a beautiful nostalgia trip
Jared Newman | 
If you’re old enough to have spent time in the aisles of a Blockbuster (and maybe even if you aren’t), a new website called BingeBuster might scratch a long-lost itch.
BingeBuster takes the feeling of browsing a video store in the ’90s and applies it to streaming services such as Netflix and HBO Max. The site presents shelves full of movies in a 3D space, and you can hop between aisles to browse different genres. Each box that you pluck from the shelves contains a direct link to where the film is available for streaming, and you can filter the entire store based on your current subscriptions.
Compared to other “what to watch” sites like JustWatch and Reelgood, BingeBuster is more joyful to navigate. But it’s also a reminder that some elements of physical media aren’t so easy to replicate.
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Weekly rewind
Apple TV adds some movies: Apple has added 19 classic movies to its Apple TV streaming service at no extra charge, including E.T., The Bourne Identity, Titanic, and Zoolander. 9to5Mac has the full list.
It’s an unusual move for Apple, whose streaming catalog consists almost entirely of original programming. Apple’s Eddy Cue recently defended the strategy of avoiding a big back catalog of licensed content, telling Variety that it’d be “kind of weird … to put our name on something we didn’t help create.”
Still, the company did experiment with a limited-time selection of 50 movies a few years ago. Pairing popular old movies with new originals makes sense to me, but it’s unclear how long this new batch will stick around for.
More NBA OTA: Add the Charlotte Hornets and Orlando Magic to the list of NBA teams that will offer most of their games for free via an antenna this season. They join the Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, and Atlanta Hawks. Standalone streaming options should be available as well, but at a still-unspecified cost.
The league is trying to assemble a national streaming service for 2027, so these are all just short-term replacements for the collapse of regional sports channels (and FanDuel Sports Network specifically). I’ll be surprised if these arrangements carry into the following season, so enjoy the free NBA coverage while it lasts.
More catch-up
- Discovery+ now includes some round-the-clock streaming channels, but not the same ones as cable.
- If your Philo plan includes Discovery+, you can now watch those shows without leaving the Philo app.
- Comcast brings back NFL Network and NFL Redzone, ending a months-long carriage dispute.
- Roku debuts a live streaming channel with nothing but hideous AI slop.
- Expect streamers to really push their ad-supported tiers, because that’s where all the growth is.
- 180-degree immersive live baseball streaming sounds pretty cool. Unfortunately it requires a $3,699 Apple Vision Pro headset.
Save more money
This part of the newsletter has some affiliate links, which earn me a commission if you wind up buying or subscribing to something.
While you can still get Apple TV for free using this one-month trial link, you can also get a year for $80 as a “qualified” returning subscriber, $20 off the regular price. To redeem it, you must open the Apple TV app on an Apple device, sign in, and select “Renew Apple TV.” Make sure the price shows as $80 before renewing.
Other notable deals:
- Paramount+: Still half-off a year of Premium with code SAVEANNUAL50, or half-off two months of Premium with code SHO2MO. New and returning subscribers only.
- Fox One: Still one year for $99 with promo code IRRAQ4KT. New and returning subscribers only.
- Despite price hikes elsewhere, you can still get Roku’s 4K streaming stick for $25 at Walmart.
As always, I maintain a full list of active streaming deals on this page.
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Until next week,
Jared