Your own streaming service
Start your own streaming service.
Step by step, with the real costs.
A streaming service of your own is a catalog, a player, a way to take payment and a set of apps, under your name. A creator can open one in an afternoon and run it alone. Below: the steps in order, what the first year actually costs, and the mistakes that sink small services.
Video hosting for filmmakers · 5 GB free · Paid plans from USD 9/month
By uncompressed.io · Updated October 2026
Short answer
How do you start your own streaming service?
Pick a hosted streaming platform, upload your films, connect your payment account, set prices and open a shop on your own domain; TV apps come after. On uncompressed.io that costs a flat plan with 0% commission, and every sale lands directly in your own payment account.
- Upload your films and connect your own payment account
- Sell purchases, rentals and monthly or yearly memberships
- Open a shop on your own domain; buyers need no account
- Add branded apps for Apple TV, iPhone, Fire TV, Samsung and LG
- First year from about USD 198 including the Apple developer fee
The steps
Eight steps, in order
from library to first subscriber
Decide the model
Rentals and purchases for a single film; memberships if you release regularly. Most services do both.
Prepare the masters
Export each film once, in a codec browsers play. It streams as exported, so the grade you approved is what viewers see.
Upload the library
Upload the films. Vimeo users can import everything at once: sign in, Import all.
Connect payments
Connect your own payment account. Every charge is made there; uncompressed.io never holds the money.
Set the prices
Default purchase, rental and download prices, then membership tiers that open whole collections, with a free trial per tier.
Open the shop
Use yourname.uncompressed.io/on-demand or point your own domain at it. Set country rules if a distributor holds some territories.
Add the TV apps
Branded apps for Apple TV, iPhone, Fire TV, Samsung and LG, built and submitted under your own developer accounts.
Launch with a reason
A coupon for the first month, a gift membership for the holidays, a free preview cut on the trailer page.
Realistic costs
The first year, in dollars
on uncompressed.io
No commission and no per-subscriber fee, so the cost does not move with your sales. These are the lines that actually appear on a creator's statement.
USD 198
Lite yearly + Apple
200 GB storage, 1,000 viewing hours a month
USD 528
Pro yearly + Apple
1 TB storage, 5,000 viewing hours a month
USD 1,716
Pro + Apple + Leak Shield
for releases you would hate to see pirated
Vimeo OTT figures from its help center pricing breakdown; Uscreen from uscreen.tv/pricing; Apple from developer.apple.com/programs; all read 12 October 2026. The streaming platform is included with every paid plan for members who switch it on before 31 December 2026, and stays included for them afterwards; after that date new activations add USD 39 a month.
What sinks small services
Four common mistakes
and how to avoid them
Launching a subscription with three films
Members pay for what comes next. If nothing new arrives, they cancel in the second month. Start with purchases and rentals until the release calendar is real.
A percentage fee that grows with you
A 10% share looks small at launch. At a few thousand dollars a month it costs more than any flat plan. Read the fee page before the feature list.
Ignoring the TV
Long films are watched on televisions. Plan the Apple TV and Fire TV apps from the start, even if they go live a few weeks after the web shop.
No plan for leaks
A paid premiere can be on a torrent site in days. Leak Shield (USD 99 a month or USD 1,188 a year) marks every buyer's copy and searches for leaks; it reduces risk and makes leaks traceable, but no protection guarantees a film never leaks.
Who this is not for
Your streaming service, in one table
Read from the live price list. Verified 2026-10.
| Commission on sales | 0 percent, at any volume. Buyers pay into your own payment account; your card processor's fee applies. |
|---|---|
| What you can sell | Purchases (stream forever), downloads, rentals with a viewing window, memberships with monthly or yearly tiers, bundles and series. |
| Member tools | Free trials per tier, coupon codes, gift memberships, refunds and free access from your earnings page. |
| Your storefront | A shop under your name at yourname.uncompressed.io/on-demand, or on your own domain. Buyers need no account. |
| Picture quality | Films stream as you exported them: no re-encode of video or audio, with an optional lighter copy for slow connections. |
| Viewing hours included | Lite 1,000, Pro 5,000, Max 15,000, Studio 25,000 hours a month, then USD 29 per extra 20,000-hour block. Playback never pauses. |
| Plans | Starter free (5 GB, one film at a time); Lite USD 9, Pro USD 39, Max USD 99, Studio USD 219 a month; yearly is one month free. |
| Leak Shield (optional) | Every buyer gets their own invisibly marked copy; the open web and torrent indexes are searched; a confirmed leak names and blocks the buyer and sends the takedown. USD 99 a month or USD 1,188 a year, any paid plan. |
| Inclusion window | The streaming platform is included with every paid plan for members who switch it on before 31 December 2026, and stays included for them afterwards; after that date new activations add USD 39 a month. |
Plans and add-ons: pricing. The whole cluster starts at the creator platform guide.
Questions
Frequently asked
How do I start my own streaming service?
Choose a hosted streaming platform, upload your films, connect a payment account, set prices for purchases, rentals or memberships, open the shop on your own domain, then add TV apps. On uncompressed.io the first four steps take an afternoon.
How much does it cost to start a streaming service?
On uncompressed.io a realistic first year is the plan plus the Apple developer membership for the Apple TV and iPhone apps: about USD 198 on Lite yearly or USD 528 on Pro yearly, plus card processing on each sale. There is no commission and no per-subscriber fee.
Do I need a developer to start a streaming service?
No. A hosted platform gives you the shop, player, payments and apps. You need developer accounts with the app stores for TV apps, which are accounts, not programmers.
How many films do I need to launch?
For rentals and purchases, one finished film is enough. For a subscription, launch with enough to justify the first month and a public plan for new releases; members cancel when the catalog stops growing.
Can I start a streaming service for free?
You can start on Starter, free with 5 GB and one film at a time, to set up and test. Selling, memberships and the streaming platform need a paid plan.
Who should not start their own streaming service?
Creators with no audience yet. A streaming service converts people who already want your work; it does not find them. Build the audience on free platforms first, then give it a place to pay.
Open your streaming service today.
Start free with 5 GB. The streaming platform comes with every paid plan (Lite USD 9, Pro USD 39, Max USD 99, Studio USD 219 a month), with 0% commission on what you sell.
Sources
- 1.Apple Developer Program (read 12 October 2026)
- 2.Vimeo OTT pricing breakdown, Vimeo help center (read 12 October 2026)
- 3.Uscreen pricing (read 12 October 2026)