Caribbean Streaming Services to Explore in 2021
When you’re exploring your TV watching options and want something Caribbean, check out these streaming services.
In the dawn of the cord-cutting era, traditional media reported on the mass exodus of viewers from cable to internet-based television consumption as an act of frugality. Five years later, it’s clear that as broadcasters, large and niche studios, and independent creators are meeting viewers where they spend most of their time – the internet – the bills are beginning to stack up. The menu of streamers available for entertainment consumption in 2021 can be overwhelming, and expensive.
Whether it’s worth it or not depends on how well subscribers’ appetites are being satisfied.
2020 saw the rise of Disney+, Apple TV+, Peacock, and HBO Max, each counting on the strength of the exclusives and originals to win viewers. When you feel for something nice and unapologetically Caribbean, the big players can let you down. Front runner Netflix and competitor Amazon Prime gave us a taste of the Caribbean with Sprinter and Small Axe, respectively. Although depending on your region, you had to beg for it.
Enter niche cultural platforms, promoting Caribbean films and series, built for audiences to discover titles that had limited or no theatrical releases. Access hundreds of titles for monthly subscription prices under $10.
Studio Anansi Unlimited
Studio Anansi isn’t new to providing feature films and shorts from Caribbean directors, the platform offers on-demand access to titles for rent or purchase. In 2020, they launched the Unlimited Anansi, a subscription product giving viewers unlimited access to all their titles for a monthly fee.
With about 100 titles at the time of this writing, Unlimited Anansi carries documentary shorts & features, and narrative shorts & features. The collection includes New Caribbean Cinema’s anthology Ring Di Alarm, Gabrielle Blackwood’s Denis, Cassandra Joseph and Vincent Lopez’s Vwé Kafé, and Nadia Charlerly’s Ti Coq.
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On-Demand & Subscription
Gift a subscription
Preview available titles & trailers before your sign up
Cost: $5.99/month
7-day Free Trial
Player optimized for any device
Unlimited Anansi is one of Third Horizon/The Caribbean Film Academy’s slate of programs promoting and supporting Caribbean Filmmakers around the world. The company also produces Timehri Film Festival and Third Horizon Film Festival.
CaribbeanTales is a festival veteran on the 16th year of its annual staging. The streaming platform, CaribbeanTales TV, carries over 100 titles. Watch non-fiction and narrative features and shorts, as well as series, masterclasses, and panels from Caribbean, African, and Canadian creators.
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On-Demand & Subscription
Gift a subscription via gift card purchase
Preview available titles & trailers before your sign up
Watch free: selected titles and event recaps
Cost: $9.99/month or $99/year
7-day free trial
Player optimized for any device
The catalog includes Alex de Verteuil’s Jab! The Blue Devils of Paramin, Alain Bidard’s Battledream Chronicle, and Rommel Hall’s series Keeping up with the Joneses.
The CaribbeanTales International Film Festival went virtual in 2020, interviews with directors whose titles were selected are also available for replay on CaribbeanTales TV.
storyplay.tv is a unique entrant into the space for a few reasons. Based in Trinidad & Tobago, the platform proudly curates titles for a family audience. The platform’s family-friendly Caribbean films and shows include its original productions Big Man Dan, limited talk series ParenTing, and education-focused COVID-19 Homeschool Ideas.
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On-demand only (rent or buy premium content)
Preview available titles & trailers before purchase
Watch free: originals, shows, and event recaps
Original Narrative Content
Player optimized for any device
StoryPlay Media kicked off production of its musical animated feature film The Caddy Club with a character design competition in late 2020, announcing the winner on storyplay.tv. The film is about five streetwise kids who escape gang recruitment and become secret crime-fighting heroes when they discover a portal to a magical realm at a community service golf program for young troublemakers.
CaribFlixTv is operated by Digital Media Arts with over 100 titles, mainly shorts, from Trinidad, Jamaica, and other Caribbean countries.
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Subscription only
Cost: $5/month or $60/year
No free trial, no option to preview titles available before sign up
Available via web browser and Google Play app
While Kweli TV isn’t exclusively Caribbean, it carries about 70 titles in the Caribbean & Latin America section, which is less than a quarter of the total catalog. Other titles come from creators from the larger African diaspora who are based in North America, Africa, Europe, and Asia.
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On-Demand & Subscription
Gift a subscription via gift card purchase
Preview available titles & trailers before purchase
Cost: $5.99/month or $49.99/year
7-day Free Trial
Available on Roku, AppleTV, iOS and Andriod App Stores
Caribbean titles include Michael Mooleedhar’s Green Days by The River, Kyle Chin’s Mango Wars, Jian Hennings and Kyle Sahadeo’s Back to Freeport, and Marjuan Canady’s family seres Callaloo.
FILMCO2Go is a partnership between Trinidad-based non-profit FILMCO and Tego. FILMCO manages the Trinidad+Tobago Film Festival, championing for distribution for Caribbean titles and development for Caribbean filmmakers.
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Subscription only
Preview available titles & trailers before purchase
Cost: $5.99/month, $20.97 for 3 months, or $71.88/year
7-day Free Trial
Available via Tego on Roku, AppleTV, iOS and Andriod App Stores
Titles available on FILMCO2Go include Teneille Newallo’s short Mangroves, Robert Macfarlane’s short A Bess Pelau, and Asha Lovelace’s short Joebell and America.
Caribbean One TV (C-ONE TV) aims to keep the Caribbean diaspora connected to the pulse of the Caribbean. It offers linear programming and on-demand streaming of movies, television series, and music.
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Subscription & linear programming
Preview available titles before sign up
Cost: plan pricing is gated
60-day Free Trial
Available on Smart-TV, Apple TV, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Roku
Titles available on Caribbean One TV include Idris Elba’s Yardie, Howard Allen’s The Sweetest Mango, and Satya Collymore’s Words Unspoken.
YardVibes is a pay-per-view on-demand service from Caribbean Creativity, a non-profit committed to the production, programming, and promotion of Caribbean and Caribbean-themed cinema based in the Netherlands.
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On-demand only (rent or buy premium content)
Preview available titles & trailers before purchase
Player optimized for any device
Titles available on YardVibes include Marcia Weekes’ Joseph, Tyler Johnston and Miquel Galofré’s My Father’s Land, and Nicolas Jack Davies’ Rudeboy: The Story of Trojan Records.
Updated to include FilmCo2Go on Feb. 1, 2021, and Caribbean One and YardVibes on May 20, 2021.
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