“All modern media is made with unpaid labor. We wanted to change that.”

March 13, 2020 10:27 AM

“Means TV officially launched last week, offering 75 hours of content, including comedy and original animations, as well as more than a dozen feature-length films. In just three days it attracted nearly 2,000 subscribers, each signing up to pay $10 a month“ Revolution and Chill: the Anticapitalist Streaming Service That’s Netflix for the 99% (Novara Media) “ Post-capitalist entertainment is just entertainment that’s created without the extracting, corrosive, and corruptive effects of capital. Instead of entertainment that’s produced with money from venture capital firms that are invested in bombs and wars, it’s produced cooperatively, and it’s centering stories of working-class people that aren’t heard in the media today.” The Founders of Means TV on Their Post-Capitalist Streaming Service (Hour Detroit) Means.Tv User Guide Means TV on YouTube An interview with Means TV co-creator Sara June on Pod Damn America Means TV previously “when you’re poor, everybody thinks you’re lying.”
posted by The Whelk (11 comments total)

I'd honestly been considering breaking into /r/BreadTube (the precursor to Means.TV?) because I feel like most Lefty YouTubers spend a lot of their time just responding to things that alt-righters push people down the Pewdiepipeline with. I often feel like there isn't enough legitimate criticism of what I might call "real" conservative voices, like Milton Friedman, people with vast educations and who were indeed quite smart, but still promoted flawed (if well considered) ideas. Instead, the left is busy dealing with mind-numbing dingus asshats like Steven Crowder. People I honestly wouldn't think dignified a response (although I can understand people wanting to push back considering the followings they've amassed.).

Anyway, I'd way rather put up a video I made on a site like this than on YouTube. So really glad to see it's here since I've been toying with some ideas for a few videos anyway. I certainly don't have the capital to kickstart such a project, and it's the kind of project I've been saying the internet needs for a while.

I think, if they play their cards right, they could especially succeed in building a leftist news network that runs through their site. They already do interviews with people striking and such, it seems like they could, if enough capital begins to come in, invest in real investigative journalism.

Good night and good luck, Means.TV!
posted by deadaluspark at 10:45 AM on March 13, 2020 [1 favorite]

This... exists? Really? That's amazing! I can't wait to check it out!
posted by treepour at 10:57 AM on March 13, 2020

skip to 30:43 in the pod damn america episode if you only want to hear about means tv.
posted by mammal at 1:16 PM on March 13, 2020

What content do they actually have? I can't find on their website or the articles an actual highlights list or a reel of what they have. I understand it won't be big films and mainstream shows, but I have a subscription to Netflix because I want to watch The Good Place and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries repeatedly, not because I care about Netflix's corporate model.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 8:28 PM on March 13, 2020

What content do they actually have?

Well, there's a Let's Play series called Left Trigger where the hosts aren't absolute insufferable jackasses like everyone on youtube, so that's a start. And it looks like they have guests for some of the episodes, including Matt Christman of Chapo, who hates video games (and might be an insufferable jackass depending on your point of view). Probably only worth subscribing to if you want to support the business model like you mentioned, or if you are already a fan of leftist media.
posted by mammal at 10:54 PM on March 13, 2020

You can browse and buy it on Roku. So I did. Thanks Welks!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:41 AM on March 14, 2020

One big thing Means has is documentaries, since they basicslly make no money in the commercial market, and fun experimental ones like Sarasota Half In Dream

Here’s a Letterboxed of the films currently on Means TV
posted by The Whelk at 8:58 AM on March 14, 2020

Also they’re giving reduced memberships to people who ask
posted by The Whelk at 9:02 AM on March 14, 2020

(Oh! Sarasota Half In Dream, previously)
posted by The Whelk at 9:06 AM on March 14, 2020

The Revolution Might Be Televised
posted by The Whelk at 2:36 AM on April 8, 2020

Interview with the co-creators of Means TV on Sh!tpost- they met at a Detroit DSA meeting!
posted by The Whelk at 6:18 PM on April 8, 2020