Did you sign up for EPIX yet?

EPIX went live as promised yesterday, May 19. This was a channel that many people never thought would come to DIRECTV. It’s here now, and we finally have some details.

Where are the EPIX channels?

There are three EPIX channels:

558 EPIX is the primary channel. There’s no east coast/west coast feed as you have in other premiums.

559 EPIX2 seems to be the same content but shuffled up so that you can watch it at different times.

560 EPIX Hits is just for movies and doesn’t have any of the original series from EPIX.

All three channels are in high definition and, as expected, there are no standard definition versions.

Will I get EPIX if I have Premier?

In a bit of a strange move, EPIX is not included in the Premier package and it’s not in the Movies Extra Pack either. It’s a completely a la carte channel package priced at $5.99. Some people will find this a bit disappointing but it’s probably just a matter of economics. There’s no reason that AT&T couldn’t raise the price of Premier next year and add EPIX, but they didn’t find themselves in a position where they could add the channel for free.

Can I authenticate to the EPIX app?

At this time, no you can’t. But I would expect that in the next couple of weeks. It’s up to EPIX, not AT&T, to implement the authentication process. AT&T still has two different modules — one for customers who have been migrated to att.com and one for those who haven’t — and this may be part of the holdup.

What’s the advantage of getting EPIX through DIRECTV rather than pure streaming?

EPIX’s streaming-only package seems to be more expensive than AT&T’s, and you get three live channels plus (probably) the streaming app. Also, if you sign up for EPIX now you will get three free months of the service before billing kicks in.

How can I get EPIX on DIRECTV?

It looks like the att.com and directv.com sites aren’t quite ready to receive those requests yet. They probably will be in a couple of days. For now you’ll want to call 1-800-DIRECTV and talk to a customer care agent if you want the channel right away.

Will there be a free preview?

Undoubtedly there will be a free preview at some point. It was expected that the first couple of weeks of EPIX would be free to hook in new customers but that didn’t happen. I’m sure that it will eventually since there are free previews all the time on DIRECTV. We try to post about them as often as we find out about them.

What does EPIX have anyway that other providers don’t?

There are a small number of exclusive movies, but I will admit that pretty much every movie on EPIX is either on Hulu or Prime, or available to rent for a low price. However, you do get a lot of great original series including the well-regarded Get Shorty. Considering the low price, you do get a lot of entertainment right off the bat and you’ll get more once you can authenticate to the streaming app.

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.