Sunday, May 27, 2018

Watch TCM--Turner Classic Movies' Mobile App

Unlike many people these days, I do not spend a lot of time on my smart phone. For that reason I do not have a lot of apps on my phone either. One of the apps installed on my phone is Watch TCM, the mobile app produced by Turner Classic Movies. If one is a TCM fan and owns a smart phone or a tablet, it is a must have.

Quite simply, Watch TCM has a lot of features that I suspect most TCM fans would use. Chief among these is the schedule. Away from one's computer, but wondering what is on TCM that night? One can check the schedule on Watch TCM. If there is a particular movie one wants to see, one can even set up a reminder on his or her phone that will notify not long before the movie airs.

Another feature that TCM fans might enjoy is the ability to watch TCM live on their phones. I imagine this could be particularly useful if one is travelling by bus, train, or plane. I have even used it myself, although only under very special circumstance. Twice over the past several months Turner Classic Movies was out on our cable system for whatever reason. Unfortunately, this was right before Noir Alley came on. I simply pulled up Watch TCM and mirrored my phone to my television set. As a result I did not miss Noir Alley. Here I must point out that not everyone might be able to do this. My phone is a Samsung Galaxy and my TV is a Samsung Smart TV. It wouldn't work if I had a different brand of TV or a different brand of phone! I am guessing it might work for other phones and TVs as well (for example, if one has an iPhone and Apple TV).

The TCM app also gives one access to TCM On Demand, so that one can watch whatever selection of movies is available at that time. I haven't used TCM On Demand on Watch TCM as I have access to On Demand through my cable provider, but I can imagine many people would find it useful.

Watch TCM also has a variety of clips and trailers that fans can watch. These range from trailers and clips from various movies to TCM promos. Watch TCM also has an image archive, chock full of posters, lobby cards, production photos, and publicity photos.

Now there is one big disadvantage to Watch TCM. One had to log in through one's cable provider account to access it, meaning it has to be available on his or her cable system. If one is a cord cutter, then, he or she won't be able to use the app. Still, for those of us who do have Turner Classic Movies on our cable systems, Watch TCM is a must-have app. In fact, aside from my email, my camera, and Instagram, it is probably the app I use the most on my phone.

No comments: