FilmStruck

News on Criterion and Janus Films.
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domino harvey
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Re: FilmStruck

#1351 Post by domino harvey » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:12 am

I feel sorry for everyone who came to rely on and use this service, but this is the textbook reason why streaming cannot and should not replace physical media for film lovers

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mfunk9786
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Re: FilmStruck

#1352 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:19 am

Physical media is a luxury for those who can afford it. If you're a film buff who wants to see as much as possible on a limited budget, streaming is much less expensive. There still needs to be a solution for being able to stream a library like this, and I frankly have no doubt that Criterion is going to get the formula right after a couple of false starts. They put a ton of work into making this stuff digitally available, bonus features and all, they aren't just going to toss it in the garbage.
Harmonov wrote:
Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:12 am
Perhaps back to Netflix?
I would love it if they took this experience to their own service. Obviously that requires investors, but if Criterion owns the service it can't be shut down on the whims of someone like Turner or Warners or Netflix at a moment's notice

KJones77
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Re: FilmStruck

#1353 Post by KJones77 » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:24 am

This is a terrible day.

hanshotfirst1138
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Re: FilmStruck

#1354 Post by hanshotfirst1138 » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:25 am

Damn, that's disappointing. Wonder if they'll go to one of the major services like back to Hulu? I hope so.

buskeat66
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Re: FilmStruck

#1355 Post by buskeat66 » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:25 am

What killed FilmStruck was AT&T. I would not be shocked if TCM was next based on the Variety story.

https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/f ... 202998364/
In a statement, Turner and WB Digital Networks said, “We’re incredibly proud of the creativity and innovations produced by the talented and dedicated teams who worked on FilmStruck over the past two years. While FilmStruck has a very loyal fanbase, it remains largely a niche service. We plan to take key learnings from FilmStruck to help shape future business decisions in the direct-to-consumer space and redirect this investment back into our collective portfolios.”
A source familiar with AT&T’s strategy said the telco is looking to eliminate peripheral projects that aren’t major producers of revenue. “They felt Time Warner overall had too many initiatives,” the exec said. “[AT&T] have their hands full. They have no time to think about, ‘What do we do with this growth property?'”

albucat
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Re: FilmStruck

#1356 Post by albucat » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:26 am

Yeah, you get the sense that they really don't know what's next, which is pretty crappy. I thought they were doing a pretty great job with what they put on Filmstruck, and their work turning it into more than just another streaming site (their supplemental content, the way they tried to program things). I hope that wherever they head next, they're not just able to continue with this type of work but are incentivized to keep doing it.

The other very frustrating thing is that their full library will, as usual, take time to land wherever they are next. They'd been at Filmstruck long enough that pretty much everything they owned was there. Now a lot of it disappears again.

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Re: FilmStruck

#1357 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:36 am

buskeat66 wrote:
Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:25 am
What killed FilmStruck was AT&T. I would not be shocked if TCM was next based on the Variety story.

https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/f ... 202998364/
In a statement, Turner and WB Digital Networks said, “We’re incredibly proud of the creativity and innovations produced by the talented and dedicated teams who worked on FilmStruck over the past two years. While FilmStruck has a very loyal fanbase, it remains largely a niche service. We plan to take key learnings from FilmStruck to help shape future business decisions in the direct-to-consumer space and redirect this investment back into our collective portfolios.”
A source familiar with AT&T’s strategy said the telco is looking to eliminate peripheral projects that aren’t major producers of revenue. “They felt Time Warner overall had too many initiatives,” the exec said. “[AT&T] have their hands full. They have no time to think about, ‘What do we do with this growth property?'”
"learnings" isn't even a word.

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FrauBlucher
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Re: FilmStruck

#1358 Post by FrauBlucher » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:38 am

buskeat66 wrote:
Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:25 am
What killed FilmStruck was AT&T. I would not be shocked if TCM was next based on the Variety story.

https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/f ... 202998364/
I can't see them eliminating TCM but I can see them changing TCM's format and adding commericials much like Cablevision did back in the day with AMC. It's very sad news to something that looked like it had legs. It'll be interesting to see where Criterion goes from here.

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Re: FilmStruck

#1359 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:41 am

I'm guessing this doesn't spell good news for the Warner deal

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whaleallright
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Re: FilmStruck

#1360 Post by whaleallright » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:54 am

buskeat66 wrote:
Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:25 am
What killed FilmStruck was AT&T. I would not be shocked if TCM was next based on the Variety story.
Yeah it's a very telling shift that AT&T refers to the exploitation of the film library as "peripheral projects"—that's a complete turnaround from the way that Time Warner talked about it over the decades. We're probably on the cusp of a closing down of availability of much of America's film heritage.
flyonthewall2983 wrote:
Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:36 am
"learnings" isn't even a word.
sure it is!

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jedgeco
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Re: FilmStruck

#1361 Post by jedgeco » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:56 am

mfunk9786 wrote:
Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:19 am
Harmonov wrote:
Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:12 am
Perhaps back to Netflix?
I would love it if they took this experience to their own service. Obviously that requires investors, but if Criterion owns the service it can't be shut down on the whims of someone like Turner or Warners or Netflix at a moment's notice
Licensing blocks of Janus films to Netflix (or Amazon Prime) might be an intermediate solution, but Netflix is all-in on its original content as a long-term strategy, so I can't that a "Criterion Channel on Netflix" would fit in with that strategy.

As the WB deal seems to indicate, the market is moving to each studio/distributor having its own streaming platform, so ultimately that's probably where Criterion is going to have to go. Hopeful they also can take some "key learnings from Filmstruck."

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domino harvey
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Re: FilmStruck

#1362 Post by domino harvey » Fri Oct 26, 2018 12:07 pm

Mfunk, I meant the people who decide not to buy a film they liked and planned to revisit because they could just watch it on FilmStruck again. There will always need to be a form of viewing without owning component to any serious film viewer's regimen (which could be as simple as going to the theatre), unless you are a Rockefeller or incredibly patient

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movielocke
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Re: FilmStruck

#1363 Post by movielocke » Fri Oct 26, 2018 12:13 pm

Horrible news.

My best hope is that they land it on amazon with a subscription channel probably not with the FilmStruck branding though.

davoarid
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Re: FilmStruck

#1364 Post by davoarid » Fri Oct 26, 2018 12:25 pm

To chime in on 1362: the other day at a thrift store I found a copy of BAGHEAD for just $3. I was about to buy it when it occurred to me that it was probably already streaming on Amazon Prime, so, what was the point?

Anyway. So not only was I wrong about that—it’s not streaming—but even if I had been right, by not buying the dang thing I’m leaving my freedom to watch the movie entirely up to the whims of billionaires. And that’s....bad.

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mfunk9786
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Re: FilmStruck

#1365 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Oct 26, 2018 12:36 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Fri Oct 26, 2018 12:07 pm
Mfunk, I meant the people who decide not to buy a film they liked and planned to revisit because they could just watch it on FilmStruck again. There will always need to be a form of viewing without owning component to any serious film viewer's regimen (which could be as simple as going to the theatre), unless you are a Rockefeller or incredibly patient
Thanks for clarifying. There isn't a guaranteed extensive stock at libraries, and owning a lot of discs is both expensive and space-consuming. In the long term there indeed must be a better way, that doesn't completely alienate enthusiasts. FilmStruck was actually trending very much in the right direction, so this is just a shame.

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mfunk9786
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Re: FilmStruck

#1366 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Oct 26, 2018 12:56 pm

It's heartening to see how many higher profile people are upset about this, the comments on their IG are from Rebecca Hall, Shirley Manson, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and more - and on Twitter pretty much every prominent film critic is bumming out vocally about it

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dustybooks
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Re: FilmStruck

#1367 Post by dustybooks » Fri Oct 26, 2018 1:06 pm

Also Barry Jenkins simply tweeted “FUCK,” which I enjoyed.

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Big Ben
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Re: FilmStruck

#1368 Post by Big Ben » Fri Oct 26, 2018 1:50 pm

I'm hoping some high profile people can come together to look for a remedy. AT&T doing very bad shit isn't much of a shock though as they were caught trying to buy influence from Trump via his fixer (How successful they were remains to be seen.). So yeah scummy company being scummy isn't much of a shock.

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TMDaines
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Re: FilmStruck

#1369 Post by TMDaines » Fri Oct 26, 2018 2:04 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:12 am
I feel sorry for everyone who came to rely on and use this service, but this is the textbook reason why streaming cannot and should not replace physical media for film lovers
And why backchannels are even more so important. Profit and making the entire history of cinema available aren’t exactly comptible bed fellows.

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Re: FilmStruck

#1370 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Fri Oct 26, 2018 4:29 pm


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Oxidized
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Re: FilmStruck

#1371 Post by Oxidized » Fri Oct 26, 2018 4:49 pm

One blue-sky idea I read today, nothing but wishful thinking, was Criterion partnering up with Apple's upcoming streaming service. On the surface that seems like it would be a good fit. I do think they'll have to continue to strike deals with larger, deeper-pocketed partners, and be subject to the profit-over-prestige whims of those partners.

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domino harvey
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Re: FilmStruck

#1372 Post by domino harvey » Fri Oct 26, 2018 4:54 pm

I can't see Apple being thrilled with stuff like WR being part of their service!

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jwd5275
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Re: FilmStruck

#1373 Post by jwd5275 » Fri Oct 26, 2018 5:04 pm

Apple is an awful fit, unless you want to limit available devices to Apple products

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Boosmahn
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Re: FilmStruck

#1374 Post by Boosmahn » Fri Oct 26, 2018 5:14 pm

Damn. I'm not even a member, but this is horrible news.

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quequeg
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Re: FilmStruck

#1375 Post by quequeg » Fri Oct 26, 2018 5:19 pm

I'm severely upset over this news. I watched at least thirty films a month on FILMSTRUCK. What am I going to do now? Its good to know that ATandT is behind it. Maybe its time for the government to break-up that company AGAIN. I think it is time to advocate for tough new anti-trust laws. Break-up these conglomerates that have too much control over our lives.

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