Plex to offer free, ad-supported content from Warner Bros.

The agreement with Warner Bros. promises to bring a catalog of premium content to all Plex users, including those not subscribed to the service paying tier.

What movies and TV shows are included in the package is unclear, but Plex says its customers will be granted access to the content cache later this year. Warner Bros. films and series will join other third-party video content, as well as live and recorded television, web shows, podcasts and a collection of 60 million HiFi streaming music tracks, the company said.

"Licensing these movies from Warner Bros. enables us to offer more types of third-party content than any other platform and bring it all together in one beautiful solution," said Keith Valory, CEO of Plex. "Premium ad-supported movies and shows deserve first-class treatment alongside other content that consumers enjoy daily, as opposed to being orphaned in yet another stand-alone app."

The new content will be available to U.S. users.

Plex's partnership with Warner Bros. is thought to be the first of many such agreements designed to expand the media server's content catalog. In January, reports claimed the company is hammering out deals with other major rights holders to offer free, ad-supported programming to platform users.

The strategy could make Plex a competitor to Apple, which in May debuted Apple TV Channels. The new feature allows users to subscribe to premium services from within the TV App, consolidating third-party content into an integrated media hub.

Currently, Apple TV Channels supports 20 providers including Acorn TV, the Arrow Video Channel, CBS All Access, Cinemax, Comedy Central Now, Curiosity Stream, EPIX, HBO, History Vault, Sundance Now, Lifetime Movie Club, MTV Hits, Mubi, PBS Living, Showtime, Shudder, Smithsonian, Starz, Tastemade and UMC.