criterionforum.org

The fucking phone company, man.

Maybe this is the timeline where massive corporations remember they can run something at a loss for a greater good - and advertising - Filmstruck brought to you by AT&T -

CJG wrote:"Plans by WarnerMedia to end the prestige film streaming site FilmStruck and its curated access to the Criterion Collection doesn’t mean that there won’t be a place for the product in WarnerMedia’s future plans. [...] The promising news is that a new iteration is in the cards for FilmStruck, though it might not be called that. The not good news is that it will be part of a package of streaming services from WarnerMedia that aren’t at present scheduled to be launched until the fourth quarter of 2019. The company is figuring out a way to make it among several branded content offerings in its OTT service."

If they just keep the service running and accept only monthly payment it can then be folded into the mega humongo colossal streaming service when it launches. The problem though is the filmstruck labor force has already been cashiered, so if they keep it going they need staff to run it probably just HBO go staff etc and New curation and titles etc is probably suspended from now til it gets absorbed by the borg cube next year.

Taking the content offline for a year doesn't seem like a particularly great solution, and now this is being ran with and reported as FilmStruck being "saved"

I suspect that this will lead to a bad version of Filmstruck being launched with the WB service and then more or less abandoned/offering a poor version of what's there now not remotely worth the money. At which point it will do poorly, and WB can say they tried but there was just no audience.

My subscription happens to expire tomorrow. Watched Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973) Wednesday, and Jacques Audiard's Dheepan (2015) yesterday. Both were 10/10. I'm thinking of giving netflix streaming a try - which will be a first for me. I only did the dvd service for a few years.

I'm confused here about AT&T's decision. They are asking HBO to add more programming... why not just roll the Filmstruck platform into HBOGO? Easy Peazy... instant value added. Criterion wins and HBO wins. And then add a yearly subscription to HBOGO for $99... and then everyone wins.

371229 wrote:I'm confused here about AT&T's decision. They are asking HBO to add more programming... why not just roll the Filmstruck platform into HBOGO? Easy Peazy... instant value added. Criterion wins and HBO wins. And then add a yearly subscription to HBOGO for $99... and then everyone wins.

It’s all about bonus metrics on overall budgetary matters for the guy in charge. By shuttering filmstruck and firing everyone he gets a big bonus because it temporarily gooses the numbers in his favor for the end of year. 100,000 subscribers isn’t anything he’s concerned about, they expect 100,000,000 subscribers. Sure it would be more profitable in the long run to fold existing customers into the new product seamlessly, but if you’re the exec, you’re weighing making 100,000 moderately irritated versus getting a huge bonus in your first year. Really it’s no contest, super easy decision.

For posts about the new Criterion Channel use this thread

If non-Criterion FilmStruck news happens that's relevant, put it there and maybe we'll figure out another solution longer term for this thread, like integrating new Filmstruck stuff with Warner Archive, etc - just spitballing. Anyway, yay!