You can stream Apple TV+ for free this weekend

You'll be able to stream as much of The Morning Show as your body can physically handle this weekend, thanks to a new Apple TV+ promotion. After teasing some kind of Apple TV+ news on social media, Apple has confirmed that from January 3 to 5 you'll be able to watch the company's original shows and movies without a paid subscription, provided you have an Apple ID.

Apple calls out shows like Silo, which is in the back half of its current season, and Severance, which will premiere its long-awaited second season on Jan 17 (you can watch the first eight minutes of the premiere now) but there's a solid catalog of tv shows and movies beyond the well-known hits. Why not stream the three-hour director's cut of Napoleon? Or the tragically slept on cult baby horror series Servant? All of it is theoretically on the menu.

While this kind of promotional experiment is new for Apple, Netflix has offered free weekends in the past as a way to gin up interest in subscriptions. One way to look at Apple's streaming strategy is that it's speedrunning lessons streamers like Netflix and Hulu spent years learning, from the risks of spending serious money on auteurist passion products, to now withdrawing from theatrical distribution, one of the few things that made Apple unique from its competitors. Maybe a free weekend picks up the company a few more subscribers, but at the very least it's a good opportunity to binge some solid shows.