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Yeah I can't imagine why anyone would get the Criterion-free version. I'm already paying around that much for Hulu with the commercial-free option so I can't complain about the price too much, assuming they actually try to support other devices. Is there a specific end date for Criterion's Hulu presence yet, by the way?

I'll get the Criterion subscription when a PlayStation Network App is confirmed.

The background of which is a shot from the Tree of Life, which I will now take as definitive proof that Criterion will be announcing its release in a couple of weeks.

I'm not so sure about the nature of Filmstruck's streaming rights situation (obviously, we'll know more upon launch). Many films from the Criterion Collection have featured stills or clips on Filmstruck's commercials and websites, but they aren't necessarily films in which Criterion owns the streaming rights (ex. Paths of Glory, Videodrome, and Seconds). This leads me to believe that Filmstruck will involve other major film distributors and not necessarily every film that appears on the service will be of Criterion's brand.

The price for the annual rate is great - especially if there's some kind of site-launch discount or something that knocks it down another few dollars (which I think is a modest possibility).

I think they pretty much nailed what the rates should be. Not too much but should still be cheap enough to get a good amount of people to subscribe who had been using Hulu.

I'm fine with the rates, but I'd like to have a sense of how many films are available if you just get the basic package, and what the rotation rate is like. Still a lot of unknowns... and I was in the beta.

Yeesh, this is a ballsy price range, especially compared to Hulu.

Price seems very favorable compared to Hulu -- Hulu is $12 for the commercial-free version, $8 for the with-commercial version. This is $11 paid monthly, or $8 paid yearly, with no commercials in either case.

I might put the annual option on my Christmas list.

Its official: the service will launch on October 19th. The linked article claims that it will be available on Amazon Fire TV, Apple and Android phones, and desktops via launch. However, on Facebook, Filmstruck's official account claims that the service will also be available via Apple TV at launch. PS4 and Xbox apps are slated to be released sometime in 2017.

EDIT: Looks like Apple TV will be 'in the coming months'. Here's a link to the official Turner press release.

10.99 is not a bad deal for everything promised

$99/year isn't too bad a price but I'll be waiting until Chromecast support comes along before subscribing. After reading the press release I would infer that Criterion will be expiring on Hulu on November 11th, which is fine with me. I've only remained a Hulu subscriber because of the Criterion offerings so I'll be cancelling that service once they pull that collection.

RSTooley wrote:The linked article claims that it will be available on Amazon Fire TV, Apple and Android phones, and desktops via launch. However, on Facebook, Filmstruck's official account claims that the service will also be available via Apple TV at launch. PS4 and Xbox apps are slated to be released sometime in 2017.

As someone with game consoles and Roku, that makes the decision easy. I had a feeling this would happen.

I still only have a PS3 (not a big gamer anymore). I've been looking at a Roku, though I don't see any sign of that being able to work with Filmstruck yet. It looks like the Amazon Fire do-hickey is still limited in comparison to Roku. Am I correct in that assumption?

I actually just e-mailed Filmstruck re: Roku and got a really speedy reply:

TCM Help (FilmStruck)
Oct 6, 10:50 EDT

Understood. I only have Roku at home myself. Stay tuned and we'll put up a notification of the exact date when it's settled.

cdnchris wrote:I still only have a PS3 (not a big gamer anymore). I've been looking at a Roku, though I don't see any sign of that being able to work with Filmstruck yet. It looks like the Amazon Fire do-hickey is still limited in comparison to Roku. Am I correct in that assumption?

I think the big Amazon Fire knock was that it didn't include HBO Go, but that's since been resolved. It might not be an awful idea for you to just buy the Fire TV stick since it's pretty inexpensive and it sounds like you could use a streaming device - assuming this supports the stick in addition to the more fully featured Fire device (that's 4K enabled, etc etc). I have to say, if there are raves about Filmstruck in here, I'm going to be tempted by that one despite it being a total goddamn redundancy with my SmartTV and game console stuff.

mfunk9786 wrote:

Black Hat wrote:I don't even know what that is. I'm officially old now I think.

Playstation 4 and Xbox One are the current generation game consoles. They have sort of a PC-lite interface that includes downloadable apps like streaming services, making streaming boxes like Roku and Amazon Fire TV a redundancy for anyone who has one (or both) of them plugged into their living room TV.

Though I wouldn't jump into getting a whole new console just yet as only halfway into this generation (and a consequence of the original consoles being relatively underpowered even at launch to a gaming PC and needing beefier equipment to power the first generation of console based VR equipment), we're just about to go into a confusion causing profusion of new consoles from slimline, cheaper ones (the Xbox S and PS4 Slim) to the more powerful consoles for 4K - the PS4 Pro and Microsoft's ominously codenamed "Project Scorpio" due for next year, which weirdly seems a homage to a certain Simpsons character!

mfunk9786 wrote:I think the big Amazon Fire knock was that it didn't include HBO Go, but that's since been resolved. It might not be an awful idea for you to just buy the Fire TV stick since it's pretty inexpensive and it sounds like you could use a streaming device - assuming this supports the stick in addition to the more fully featured Fire device (that's 4K enabled, etc etc). I have to say, if there are raves about Filmstruck in here, I'm going to be tempted by that one despite it being a total goddamn redundancy with my SmartTV and game console stuff.

Thanks! Now looking into the Amazon box and might bite on that. I've been meaning to pick up something for a while, just haven't done it yet for whatever reasons.

So, other than Multiple Maniacs, are any of the stuff they're restoring in that video stuff we don't know about? I *think* on the board behind them there's a white-board that indicates they're working on Tampopo (which we also knew about). But it's just Lone Wolf/Short Cuts/Cat People, right?

(Incidentally, as I'm well aware this is a hard sell for Criterion's current base, but I think this video and the newsletter do a great job at explaining their reasoning; as expected, they say one of the most important things to them was the ability to bring back long gone features like commentary on Silence of the Lambs or that sort of stuff on stuff they don't have the rights to themselves necessarily)

Ribs wrote:So, other than Multiple Maniacs, are any of the stuff they're restoring in that video stuff we don't know about? I *think* on the board behind them there's a white-board that indicates they're working on Tampopo (which we also knew about). But it's just Lone Wolf/Short Cuts/Cat People, right?

Powwow Highway was in the scrollbar for Criterion streaming movies. I don't know if that was a known property or not, or really anything about it

Gregory gave it a big thumbs down in the Native American films thread

Not terribly excited about waiting until next year for an Xbox Live app. Otherwise, the price is right.

Ribs wrote:So, other than Multiple Maniacs, are any of the stuff they're restoring in that video stuff we don't know about? I *think* on the board behind them there's a white-board that indicates they're working on Tampopo (which we also knew about). But it's just Lone Wolf/Short Cuts/Cat People, right?

(Incidentally, as I'm well aware this is a hard sell for Criterion's current base, but I think this video and the newsletter do a great job at explaining their reasoning; as expected, they say one of the most important things to them was the ability to bring back long gone features like commentary on Silence of the Lambs or that sort of stuff on stuff they don't have the rights to themselves necessarily)

At about 1:33 in the video, is that Lone Wolf & Cub being restored, or is that something else? At first I thought it might be a Gosha picture.

Amazon Prime members have access to "add on" subscriptions such as Showtime and Starz through Amazon Video. FilmStruck would be wise to partner with Amazon to do something similar. You could then access all of FilmStruck's streaming content through Amazon Video which is already available on numerous platforms (Roku, gaming consoles, Blu-ray players, TVs, etc.). The only drawback is that Amazon Video is currently unavailable for Chromecast or Apple TV.

Ribs wrote:So, other than Multiple Maniacs, are any of the stuff they're restoring in that video stuff we don't know about? I *think* on the board behind them there's a white-board that indicates they're working on Tampopo (which we also knew about). But it's just Lone Wolf/Short Cuts/Cat People, right?

(Incidentally, as I'm well aware this is a hard sell for Criterion's current base, but I think this video and the newsletter do a great job at explaining their reasoning; as expected, they say one of the most important things to them was the ability to bring back long gone features like commentary on Silence of the Lambs or that sort of stuff on stuff they don't have the rights to themselves necessarily)

Why is the part that's actually on topic a giant pragraph in parenthesis? Can we have any post not become about just speculation?

Considering the MSRP for new Criterion Blu-Rays is $39.99, ticket prices average in major cities are about $12+ and that all streaming services seem to lack a substantial amount of classic, world and down right historically important cinema, $10.99 a month seems like a steal. Especially as it's a one-of-a-kind streaming service that caters to a very specific type of customer. Hopefully it even sets new precedent for streaming the same way they influenced the home video market. Sign me up!