Criterion streaming service

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/film wrote:The Criterion Channel: Criterion Launches Independent Streaming Service in the Wake of FilmStruck’s Demise

The Criterion Collection and WarnerMedia have announced the launch of The Criterion Collection as a new independent streaming service. That’s great news for cinephiles that have been mourning the demise of FilmStruck, the niche but well-beloved movie subscription service that WarnerMedia unceremoniously axed last month. However, this happy news for movie lovers seems like it translates to one sad thing: FilmStruck is probably dead.

Movie lovers may not have been able to save FilmStruck, but the Criterion Collection will have a whole new digital service to share its classic films with the masses. The company is partnering with WarnerMedia for a “free-standing streaming service” called The Criterion Channel that is set to launch in spring 2019. The Criterion Collection movies will also be available on WarnerMedia’s new streaming service that will launch in late 2019.

“If you loved the curated programming we’ve been doing with our friends at FilmStruck, we have good news for you,” Criterion wrote in a press release, thanking the upswell of support that has risen in the wake of FilmStruck’s shuttering and promising that The Criterion Channel will be “carrying on with that mission.” They reiterated that The Criterion Channel will definitively replace FilmStruck, confirming yesterday’s report that a “new iteration” of FilmStruck would be launched:

“The Criterion Channel will be picking up where FilmStruck left off, with thematic programming, regular filmmaker spotlights, and actor retrospectives, featuring major classics and hard-to-find discoveries from Hollywood and around the world, complete with special features like commentaries, behind-the-scenes footage and original documentaries.”

The service will include all of the films from the lauded Criterion Collection — which was one of FilmStruck’s most attractive features — as well as WarnerMedia’s “deep and extensive library” of films. The companies also announced the continuation of the Criterion Channel’s guest programmer series Adventures in Moviegoing, which featured movie-loving cinephiles such as Barry Jenkins, Guillermo del Toro, Bill Hader, and Mira Nair. The new Criterion Channel will also feature the return of Criterion’s monthly 15-minute film school, Observations on Film Art, Tuesday’s Short + Feature, and the Friday double-bill.

The Criterion Channel will be the collection’s latest streaming platform. Before the vast collection of classic films found a home at FilmStruck in 2016, they were streaming on Hulu.

This announcement comes in the wake of the death of FilmStruck, which galvanized prolific filmmakers including Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, Guillermo del Toro, and Paul Thomas Anderson, to send letters to WarnerMedia while an online petition gathering over 50,000 signatures fought to save the service. WarnerMedia has certainly not been popular among cinephiles recently with its sudden shuttering of FilmStruck, but this is a much better option than the popular theory that the classic movie service would simply be folded into Warner’s upcoming streaming platform. The Criterion Channel allows movie lovers a one-stop shop for all the acclaimed classic and foreign films, while giving a platform for little-seen, eclectic fare that would otherwise be impossible to find.
salo & armageddon for everyone!

Re: Criterion streaming service

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BMD wrote:The Criterion Collection Comes Back To Streaming With The Criterion Channel
Brag to your friends about what a smart ol' cinephile you are.

I love me some Criterion Collection. I recognize that it's a kind of self-appointed prestige on the part of the publisher, but what can I say? They have good taste. I am a sucker for those twice-annual sales they put on, and Criterion films make up a pretty large percentage of my Blu-ray library. Weirdly enough, though, I was never a Filmstruck subscriber, which was a cooperative venture between TCM and The Criterion Collection and would have been an easy way for me to get that Criterion fix. Maybe it's just subscription fatigue or the really good feeling of owning a piece of physical media, but I didn't really realize what a special thing we had in Filmstruck until the service was dead and gone as of late last year.

But like a phoenix rising from the cliche, it looks like WarnerMedia is rebranding and reviving the idea with The Criterion Channel. According to The Playlist, the new service launches on April 8, 2019, and will cost $10.99 per month or a discounted price of $99.99 annually. If you're a Charter Cable customer, you get a few added benefits if you subscribe before the launch date, like a discounted subscription fee and access to a prelaunch Movie of the Week every Wednesday before launch.

Here's the kicker though, and what's probably going to set this service apart from stuff like Netflix and Hulu: You know all those special features you get on a Criterion disc? Y'know, the main reason these stuffed little suckers are worth the premium pricing? Well, all the supplements and documentaries and what-have-you is going to be available on the service, too. But not only that, there's some original programming in the mix too!

As The Playlist puts it:

As for all the extras that you can expect with the Criterion Channel, the service is going to be truly unique with its own original content and filmmaker-focused exclusives including a new Sunday Spotlight, a movie marathon focusing on a different director, star, genre, or theme each week. There will also be a return of “Adventures in Moviegoing,” the guest programmer series that has featured Bill Hader, Barry Jenkins, Guillermo del Toro, and Mira Nair, “Tuesday’s Short + Feature,” “Friday Double Feature,” “Meet the Filmmakers,” “Art-House America,” and “Observations on Film Art,” the Channel’s 15-minute-a-month film school.

The Criterion Channel is going to be available on desktop, Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, iOS, and Android devices, and they've got me seriously considering laying down the cash for a subscription.

Re: Criterion streaming service

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Not just Charter Cable, if you subscribe before launch the annual fee is $10 off. I'm kind of on the fence about it though. I've already bought most of the Criterion titles I want to watch on disc so I don't know how much more I'd get out of it.
Just cut them up like regular chickens