AMC has a truly terrible idea for a video streaming service

In what might be this week’s worst new idea, Reuters reports that AMC is working on an ad-free subscription video service that would be exclusively available to cable TV customers. In other words, it’d be a paid service that would be separate from your normal cable bill but require a cable account to even sign up for.

You’d pay extra — between $4.99 to $6.99 per month (AMC is still finalizing pricing) — on top of your TV bill to get ad-free streaming from whatever this AMC app is. Woof. What are we doing here, people?

Sure, commercials are annoying and definitely pull you out of The Walking Dead, but who would pay to avoid them on a single network? Ad-free Hulu is an appealing thing. This? No thanks. Especially for the prices AMC seems to be considering. For one or two bucks, maybe I could see it. And while I don’t subscribe, CBS All Access at least makes sense from the perspective that cable isn’t a prerequisite to use it.

The Reuters report says that AMC’s as-yet-unannounced service could feature exclusive “digital-only spinoff shows” of existing programs. Yeah, I’d sure that’d be top-notch material. Surefire Emmy contenders. I can’t recall such a blatant attempt to cash in while you’ve still got shows that draw big ratings.