FilmStruck

News on Criterion and Janus Films.
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Noiradelic
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2009 12:45 am

Re: FilmStruck

#1326 Post by Noiradelic » Thu Oct 04, 2018 7:34 pm

Kirkinson wrote:
Wed Oct 03, 2018 2:21 pm
RSTooley wrote:
Wed Oct 03, 2018 12:55 pm
Janus Films' page on Kanopy's website advertises 396 videos, not 30.
I believe the collection varies depending on your library. That page lists only 50 videos for me, but if I open it in an incognito window (i.e., without the web site remembering what library I've logged in through before) then I see all 396 titles. The number of titles you can watch in a month will also vary depending on your library (I can watch 6, but other libraries may be more or less generous). But obviously still worth checking out since it costs you nothing.
When I registered with Kanopy a year ago they had hundreds of Criterions (probably the 396 mentioned), including a handful that were only available on Filmstruck. Recently it plummeted to just 50 "Essential Art House"-type films. I assumed that once their contract expired Criterion wanted to make the rest only available to stream on Filmstruck.

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Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Re: FilmStruck

#1327 Post by Matt » Fri Oct 05, 2018 11:07 am

I can actually talk about Kanopy from the library side as I am the administrator for Kanopy at my library. Kanopy allows libraries control over what they allow their users to access. It ranges from "everything Kanopy has" to pretty much title-by-title selection. Kanopy is also pretty fucking expensive for libraries, and the more active your user base and the more individual titles they watch, the more expensive it is. (By contrast, if all your users watched only the same one or two titles, it would be really cheap - it's ironically the vast selection that kills your budget.)

It's not surprising to me that people are reporting differing levels of access to Criterion films (and differing numbers of titles a user is allowed to watch per month). It has nothing to do with rights (my library's users have access to the full 396 titles Janus/Criterion provides), but everything to do with your local library's budget and whatever limits they've placed on the selection and number of titles users may access).

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: FilmStruck

#1328 Post by colinr0380 » Fri Oct 05, 2018 11:58 am

I'm waiting for a story about a single person who rented In The Realm of the Senses five hundred times in one academic year and bankrupted the institution.

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Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Re: FilmStruck

#1329 Post by Matt » Fri Oct 05, 2018 12:18 pm

Sorry, I might have been unclear above. If one person viewed the same film 500 times in year, it would cost the same as if they had only viewed it 4 times. It's the 4 people watching the same 500 films as each other (in other words, the users of this forum) that busts the budget.

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movielocke
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:44 am

Re: FilmStruck

#1330 Post by movielocke » Fri Oct 05, 2018 12:29 pm

How much does it cost for one person to view one film?

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domino harvey
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: FilmStruck

#1331 Post by domino harvey » Fri Oct 05, 2018 12:30 pm

I assume the bigger city systems with larger internet-using membership (i.e. big metropolitan cities) are usually the ones granting access to the larger number of releases? If so that's too bad, as it's the small town systems that could most benefit from the service

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jedgeco
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2004 11:28 am

Re: FilmStruck

#1332 Post by jedgeco » Fri Oct 05, 2018 1:16 pm

Note to all - the Free Library of Philadelphia (http://www.freelibrary.org) is a Kanopy subscriber (appears to only have the 50-film Janus catalog though) and lets non-Philly residents sign up online for something like $50/year. It's also got a lot of other digital resources (audiobooks, e-books) available for download that you get access to as well.

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Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Re: FilmStruck

#1333 Post by Matt » Fri Oct 05, 2018 4:00 pm

movielocke wrote:
Fri Oct 05, 2018 12:29 pm
How much does it cost for one person to view one film?
In the college and university model, it costs nothing: "Under PDA (Patron Driven Acquisition), [the] faculty, staff and student body has full access to Kanopy. One-year licenses for a single film trigger when the film is viewed four times in a 1 year period. A view is defined as a play of 30 secs or more. The fourth view automatically triggers a one-year license.”

In the public library model, it costs $2: "Kanopy's Public Library model is Pay Per Use. Kanopy receives $2 per public library patron play. Patrons have 3 days to watch the film, and if they watch the film again after this period of time a second $2 transaction results."

Of course, the major metropolitan library systems or regional library consortia may be able to negotiate more favorable deals.

Now that I look closely at the differences in the models, there may be additional reasons I’m unaware of for the limited titles in public libraries.

grasprelease
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 10:13 pm

Re: FilmStruck

#1334 Post by grasprelease » Sat Oct 06, 2018 1:19 am

Has the Disobey addition/expiration wiki/spread been discontinued? There seem to be no 'expiring' dates beyond 10/13, and no recent additions. I skimmed back through several months of this thread but if it was mentioned, I missed it. The Reddit user who made (?) this ('morbusiff') seems to have been dormant for five months. I found it so much more useful than the 'Coming Soon' list provided by Filmstruck.

mteller
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:23 pm

Re: FilmStruck

#1335 Post by mteller » Mon Oct 08, 2018 12:42 pm

Kanopy was just added to Portland libraries.

The article says $2 per checkout, so it doesn't sound like there was any negotiating a more favorable deal. Seems like a pretty steep price to me.

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movielocke
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:44 am

Re: FilmStruck

#1336 Post by movielocke » Mon Oct 08, 2018 1:29 pm

mteller wrote:
Mon Oct 08, 2018 12:42 pm
Kanopy was just added to Portland libraries.

The article says $2 per checkout, so it doesn't sound like there was any negotiating a more favorable deal. Seems like a pretty steep price to me.
it's a dollar cheaper than renting SD on google play or amazon (2.99). I think most films on itunes are 3.99 to rent whether or not they're SD or HD

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domino harvey
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Re: FilmStruck

#1337 Post by domino harvey » Mon Oct 08, 2018 1:32 pm

It's free for patrons, $2 per checkout is what the library pays when their member rents a movie

mteller
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:23 pm

Re: FilmStruck

#1338 Post by mteller » Mon Oct 08, 2018 2:47 pm

Yeah sorry I didn't make that clear in my post. Nonetheless, it's a big cost to the library (and ultimately the taxpayer). I'm curious to see how popular it will be.

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371229
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2016 12:28 am

Re: FilmStruck

#1339 Post by 371229 » Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:46 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Mon Oct 08, 2018 1:32 pm
It's free for patrons, $2 per checkout is what the library pays when their member rents a movie
I wonder if Hoopla works the same way? I noticed my library offers both Kanopy & Hoopla services... and many movies available on Hoopla are not available on Kanopy (and vice versa). Kanopy tends to have a lot more Criterion and World Cinema titles. Also the picture quality through Kanopy looks a lot better on my TV (watching through apps on Roku) than Hoopla.

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Kirkinson
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 5:34 am
Location: Portland, OR

Re: FilmStruck

#1340 Post by Kirkinson » Tue Oct 09, 2018 11:55 pm

Hoopla only offers standard def video, so it's never going to look great. But I imagine financially it works in a similar way since libraries also tend to offer a limited number of titles per month. I'm guessing it's a bit cheaper since through my library I can watch 10 titles a month on Hoopla vs. 6 on Kanopy.

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MichaelStockCA
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2017 6:23 pm
Location: California

Re: FilmStruck

#1341 Post by MichaelStockCA » Fri Oct 12, 2018 7:39 pm

Hi,
I just want to throw this into the forum:
I'm keeping a list of all movies on FilmStruck, updated every week, sorted by expiring date. Over the last months I noticed that many of the new uploads are expiring on December 27. I have an Excel file, so I did a bit of analysis and it turns out that as of today 171 films will expire on that date. Usually it's roughly the same number per week as being uploaded. 171 is a lot and we will have a big drop in January. Does anybody have any explanation for that? These are almost exclusively Hollywood classics. Are there any licensing issues?

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movielocke
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:44 am

Re: FilmStruck

#1342 Post by movielocke » Sat Oct 13, 2018 11:04 am

MichaelStockCA wrote:Hi,
I just want to throw this into the forum:
I'm keeping a list of all movies on FilmStruck, updated every week, sorted by expiring date. Over the last months I noticed that many of the new uploads are expiring on December 27. I have an Excel file, so I did a bit of analysis and it turns out that as of today 171 films will expire on that date. Usually it's roughly the same number per week as being uploaded. 171 is a lot and we will have a big drop in January. Does anybody have any explanation for that? These are almost exclusively Hollywood classics. Are there any licensing issues?
Could be related to warner creating a warner streaming silo unifying hbo tcm etc etc under one service

albucat
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2011 12:06 am

Re: FilmStruck

#1343 Post by albucat » Tue Oct 23, 2018 11:02 am

Complete list of films premiering on the Criterion Channel in November:

November 6
Kaiju Bunraku, Lucas Leyva and Jillian Mayer, 2017

November 14
Dheepan, Jacques Audiard, 2015

November 20
Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke, Lucas Leyva and Jillian Mayer, 2012
True Stories, David Byrne, 1986

November 27
Sea Devil, Brett Potter and Dean C. Marcial, 2014

November 30
This is England, Shane Meadows, 2006

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mfunk9786
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Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: FilmStruck

#1344 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:00 am

News About FilmStruck

We have some sad news to share: earlier this morning, Turner and Warner Bros. Digital Networks announced plans to shut down FilmStruck, the streaming service that has been our happy home for the last two years. Like many of you, we are disappointed by this decision. When we launched the Criterion Channel in 2016, we had two goals: to ensure that our entire streaming library remained available, and to address our audience in our own voice. We’re proud of the work we’ve done, bringing curated programming and the full range of supplemental features to the streaming space, championing a diverse array of filmmakers from beyond our collection and creating original content that invites you into exciting conversations about cinema culture.

All this is very new, and we’ll be sure to keep you updated as we learn more details. But rest assured that we are still committed to restoring and preserving the best of world cinema and bringing it to you in any medium we can. In the weeks ahead, we’ll keep you informed about the great programming you can watch on the Channel before it shuts down on November 29, and we’ll be trying to find ways we can bring our library and original content back to the digital space as soon as possible. Thanks to everyone who enjoyed FilmStruck, and we hope you’ll join us as we look forward to what the future brings.

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Luke M
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:21 pm

Re: FilmStruck

#1345 Post by Luke M » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:03 am

Jesus that’s terrible news. We just got Filmstruck a couple months ago and had been enjoying it a bit more than expected.

Perhaps Criterion can move back to Hulu?

MongooseCmr
Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2012 11:50 pm

Re: FilmStruck

#1346 Post by MongooseCmr » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:04 am

And this happens the day I settle into a new living space where I could resubscribe and actually use it this time. What a shame.

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mfunk9786
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Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: FilmStruck

#1347 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:05 am

Same thing here, in fact our semi-annual educator subscription just renewed a few days ago for another 6 months. The website said current subscribers will be contacted about refunds for unused time - I hope that's indeed the case. I think the device availability thing and slow start really killed them - they got everyone excited about a service that was not available in many places, and if they had laid the foundation properly I think we'd be having a different conversation about this today.

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mfunk9786
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Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: FilmStruck

#1348 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:11 am

Already received the e-mail about refunding the prorated subscription fee.

KirkG
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2016 3:24 pm

Re: FilmStruck

#1349 Post by KirkG » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:12 am

I understand the comments about the problems with rolling out the service, but isn’t it likely this has much to do with Warner’s planned new streaming service? I bet they want to move much of the Filmstruck content (though probably not the Criterion items) there.

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Harmonov
Joined: Thu Apr 17, 2008 11:26 am
Location: Bloomington, IN

Re: FilmStruck

#1350 Post by Harmonov » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:12 am

Perhaps back to Netflix?

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