WarnerMedia is shuttering FilmStruck, the subscription video on demand platform it launched back in November 2016.

The WarnerMedia divisions that operate the platform, Turner Networks and Warner Bros. Digital Networks, announced the decision over Twitter Friday. The platform, the exclusive SVOD home for the prestigious Criterion Collection of classic movies, is no longer signing up new subscribers. It will officially shut down on November 29.

“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,” reads a statement on the Criterion Channel. “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.”

The decision comes following AT&T’s takeover earlier this year of Time Warner Inc., its subsequent rebranding of the Time Warner assets under the WarnerMedia moniker, and its revelation that it will focus on broadly targeted streaming platforms.

Earlier this month, Warner Bros. Digital Networks similarly shuttered DramaFever, an SVOD platform focused on Korean dramas, and Turner is closing youth-targeted digital content studio Super Deluxe.

As for FilmStruck, WarnerMedia never said how many subscribers the service had drawn.

IT is home to some 1,800 contemporary and classic independent, arthouse, foreign and cult films—not only from the Criterion Collection, but also the Warner Bros. movie studio’s library of classic films.

The service is priced at $10.99 a month for those who want access to the Criterion Collection; and $6.99 for those who eschew that option. 

FilmStruck, Turner’s SVOD service for movie aficionados, asked Twitter users to chime in on the four films that define them, and the Twitterverse responded…big time.

The campaign raised the curtain on Tuesday (April 17) with this tweet, asking for people to list out those films and tag four other friends to do the same:

[embed]https://twitter.com/FilmStruck/status/986228505884098560[/embed]

The campaign, which used the #FilmStruck4 hashtag, went viral. At last check, it generated more than 300 million impressions, north of 80,000 tweets, and 40,000-plus contributors, according to FilmStruck. That activity also helped to catapult FilmStruck as the top trending topic on the social network.

In addition to FilmStruck subs and film fans, a sizable group of Hollywood heavies also got into the act (more on that later).

The campaign, which asks film lovers to name four films that define them and tag friends to do the same, has FilmStruck everywhere on Twitter.

According to Pola Changnon, SVP of marketing, brand creative and talent for FilmStruck, the genesis of the idea, came from a FilmStruck podcast with Rian Johnson, director of Star Wars:The Last Jedi, who discussed how he engages with the service and a methodical approach he takes when deciding what movie to view on a given night.

“People are engaging with our service in a more intentional way than I think they might with another streaming service, where you plop down and scroll through [choices],” Changnon said.

FilmStruck then teamed up with partner Criterion on how to challenge film lovers about how

they engage with film ahead of next week’s TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, and the “define yourself” theme came through.

“It was a great basis for starting the conversation,” Changnon said. “We want to own this larger conversation about the importance of film."

The conversation got going and helped to drive a primary driver, spreading the word about FilmStruck, an SVOD service that was launched in the U.S. in November 2016.

RELATED: FilmStruck Sets International Expansion 

“We want to build awareness for this baby brand…[and] create some noise that is brand appropriate, but feels completely in synch with who we are and who we want to be,” Changnon explained. “In a landscape of big, established behemoth streaming services, how do you cut through? That was ultimately what we were looking for.”

RELATED: SVOD Shakeout: The Survival of the Fittest (subscription required)

In addition to awareness, FilmStruck is also looking to drive more people to the service. FilmStruck hasn’t released subscriber numbers, but Changnon said that the campaign has delivered a spike in people searching for FilmStruck and installing the app.

FilmStruck offers a two-week free trial, so time will tell what the conversation rate is. “But our expectation is that they are quality prospects…people who are going to hang around.”

In addition to getting consumers and fans of films to chime in with their choices, the campaign also drew participation from several big names from Hollywood and entertainment. Here’s a sampling: 

[embed]https://twitter.com/rianjohnson/status/986259569511821312[/embed][embed]https://twitter.com/JuddApatow/status/986464863554715649[/embed][embed]https://twitter.com/RealRonHoward/status/986481429876916224[/embed][embed]https://twitter.com/chancetherapper/status/987010802938007552[/embed][embed]https://twitter.com/nlyonne/status/986458880443117568[/embed][embed]https://twitter.com/RealGDT/status/986457935663558664[/embed]

[embed]https://twitter.com/RealGDT/status/986458553853587456[/embed][embed]https://twitter.com/RobLowe/status/986697303057612800[/embed][embed]https://twitter.com/JonahHill/status/986335039481958402[/embed][embed]https://twitter.com/jes_chastain/status/986829457372602369[/embed]

In a deal that will add hundreds of Hollywood classics to its library, FilmStruck, the Turner-owned SVOD service for film aficionados, has inked an exclusive streaming deal with Warner Bros. Digital Networks (WBDN) that adds hundreds of Hollywood classics to its subscription VOD library, including Casablanca, Citizen Kane, and An American in Paris. 

FilmStruck also announced TCM Select, a new curated collection of “iconic films from the Golden Age of Hollywood” that will be complemented by introductions from Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz, along with archival content and other bonus materials. FilmStruck is also pushing ahead with new curated themes around classic Hollywood such as Rogers & Astaire: The Complete Collection, Neo-Noir, and a Star of the Week theme featuring Bette Davis, Hepburn & Tracy and Ava Gardner, among others.

Amid the new content and distribution partnership, Warner Archive, an SVOD service that was launched in April 2013, will be sunset, and current customers will be transitioned to a FilmStruck subscription.

Warner Archive has been selling for $9.99 per month or $94.99 per year. By comparison, FilmStruck’s baseline service starts at $6.99 per month (and now includes TCM Select), or $10.99 per month or $99 per year when FilmStruck is combined with The Criterion Channel. FilmStruck is adding the new Warner Bros. titles without raising the price on the service

WBDN said the decision to team up with FilmStruck made sense on several levels as it mulled whether to have Warner Archive continue on as a stand-alone service.

“We had a decision to make -- we were either going to get really serious about it and put our iconic films to work and put more films on the service and build a better consumer experience or we were going to partner with Turner,” Craig Hunegs, president of WBDN and president, business strategy for Warner Bros. Television Group, said.

Following discussions with Turner, including with Coleman Breland, president of Turner Classic Movies, FilmStruck and Turner Content Experiences, “We realized that rather than having two services that overlap with each other [with respect to the fan base], let’s put them together and make on undeniable film service for fans who love the greatest movies…It made all the sense in the world to partner on this.”

“It is the absolutely right step to take,” added Breland, noting that FilmStruck has been building up its library through partnerships with a wide range of studios, including Sony, MGM, Lionsgate, Universal and Paramount.

The streaming content deal marks the latest partnership between Turner and Warner Bros.

Last month, they formed a joint venture that will extend FilmStruck internationally, starting in the U.K. They are also partnered on an OTT-delivered SVOD version of Boomerang that launched last April.

RELATED: FilmStruck Sets International Expansion

Breland said the new partnership will help FilmStruck adds films from the Golden Age of Hollywood and help it continue to focus on what it views as an underserved category of independent and arthouse films, and expand that content slate without raising the price on the service.

He estimates that FilmStruck will now be offering more than 1,800 titles per month via a curated library that will be rotated and refreshed each month.

He said the addition of TCM Select will focus on 26 “iconic” titles, plus the bonus elements. “The titles are critical,” Breland said. “It’s not just the titles; it’s how they are actually positioned.”

FilmStruck, which launched its U.S. offering in November 2016, has not announced subscriber numbers, but Breland said he likes the trajectory of those numbers so far and that retention on annual subscriptions to the service have been “incredibly high.”

Warner Archive likewise doesn’t disclose specific sub numbers, but Hunegs said the size of the service’s base is in the tens of thousands.

To help with the transition, existing Warner Archive customers are being offered two free months of the FilmStruck + The Criterion Channel offering. After April 26, Warner Bros. will no longer support subscribers on the Warner Archive platform, though all current subscriptions to that service will be honored on FilmStruck.

The content partnership between FilmStruck and Warner Bros. and the sunsetting of the Warner Archive service also follows a wider trend in the exploding SVOD sector, which is undergoing a correction of sorts as some services get shut down while others, as in this case, continue on via newly formed partnerships.

For more on that trend, please see this week’s cover story in Broadcasting & Cable.

RELATED: SVOD Market: Survival of the Fittest (subscription required)

Meanwhile, Breland believes FilmStruck’s approach and focus is well-positioned for the long term. “We don't think of FilmStruck as just an SVOD service,” he said. “It’s not about taking a linear brand and forcing it into an SVOD slot. This is about serving the fans in a way that they want it." 

FilmStruck, the SVOD service for movie aficionados, is getting ready to hit the world stage.

FilmStruck, launched in the U.S. in November 2016 with a mix of mainstream, cult, independent and art house titles, is evolving into a multi-territory movie streaming service through a joint venture of Turner International’s Digital Ventures & Innovation Group and Warner Bros. Digital Networks.

The international offering will combine the assets of both companies, and “draw primarily” on the Warner Bros. library and the Criterion Collection library, and also feature fare from other global and local content partners, they said.

The JV will initially launch service in the U.K. in association with cinema brand Curzon, and be called Filmstruck Curzon. That offering , expected to launch in the “coming weeks” will include titles from the Curzon Artificial Eye film library and be available on a range of mobile and TV-connected platforms. The U.S. version of FilmStruck is already supported on iOS and Android mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV boxes, Roku players and Roku TVs, Android TV devices, and is optimized for Google Chromecast streaming adapters.


The JV expects plan to launch FilmStruck to markets around the world over the next two years.

“International film fans now have a new home for a wide and diverse range of movies including some of Warner Bros.’ most iconic titles,” Craig Hunegs, president, business and strategy, Warner Bros. Television Group and president, Warner Bros. Digital Networks, said in a statement.

In addition to FilmStruck, Turner International offers two other SVOD brands -- EI Plus in Brazil and Toonix in the Nordics.

FilmStruck, Turner’s SVOD service for film aficionados, is getting into the holiday spirit.

FilmStruck today launched a promo that offers a Roku Express player with the purchase of an annual $99 gift subscription to the streaming service. FilmStruck said the promotion runs through the end of the year while supplies last.

The Roku Express is an HDMI-connected device that retails for $29.99. FilmStruck launched its app for Roku in June.

RELATED: Roku Freshens Up Streaming Device Lineup, Bows New OS

FilmStruck was launched about a year ago, and has not announced a subscriber number. However, it has seen a “high subscriber retention rate” with the majority of customers subscribing to its premium tier.

The baseline FilmStruck service costs $6.99 per month, and the premium version with The Criterion Channel goes for $10.99 per month (or $99 per year).

Growing Time Warner’s direct-to-consumer business will be a key priority after it is acquired by AT&T.

Speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications and Entertainment Conference Thursday (Sept. 7), AT&T senior executive vice president John Stankey, who will run AT&T's media business, said getting the importance of getting direct-to-consumer rights should not be underestimated.

RELATED: AT&T, Time Warner Reach Deal 

AT&T brings to the combined company expertise with scaled consumer relationships, Stankey said.

AT&T has “the experience, the history and the advantage of having a lot of those through our distribution business,” he said. “The Time Warner Company clearly has the ability to make great content, great intellectual property that can be extended and used to differentiate brand and experiences. And our belief is, bringing those two together is extremely important in the future.”

Related: AT&T Entertainment Chief Touts Content

Stankey noted that the media business is approaching an inflection point. The pay TV business “is at peak and it’s going to decline. I think the question is, what is the rate and pace?”

At the same time customers are experimenting with over-the-top streaming products, including AT&T’s DirecTV Now.

“A lot of folks are round-tripping and coming back into the core bundles afterwards,” Stankey said. “I think they’re still searching for what the solution is. The solution is more on-demand capabilities, better user interface and higher value for the current amount people are paying. And I do believe the industry will react to that, albeit a little bit slow because of some of the licensing constructs that are out there.”

Stankey wants Time Warner’s units — Turner, HBO and Warner Bros. — to continue to make great content.

“My goal is not to go in and try to explain to creatives how they can do their job better," he said. "That is not what I’m good at nor is it my training or my expertise.

“What I do understand are things like industry structure, I understand the application of technology and distribution," Stankey added. "I understand data and customer relationships, I understand integration and getting people to build business models effectively around the marriage of content and technology. And so my goal and my focus will be on facilitating that."

Stankey said that on its own, Time Warner recognized the changes in the industry and was looking at ways to be more collaborative. It was also getting into direct-to-consumer businesses, including Filmstruck with classic films, a Boomerang kids business and an upcoming sports service built around European soccer.

Related: Turner Building Sports Streaming Service With UEFA Soccer Rights

But in the first year after the AT&T-Time Warner merger is completed, Stankey expects the company to be able reach a number of goals.

With AT&T's platform, “you should expect to see experimentation and piloting content that's available today in traditional means that we can start to innovate on top,” he said. "And we have got a great customer base to experiment with.

“We want more engagement, especially in an ad-supported business,” he added. “So there are other variants you should see on what I would call embedded content models that will be in the first year.”

AT&T will be using data to build up its ad business, he said.

“And even before we have full infrastructure on data and what I would call programmatic-driven placement of advertising in the premium space, there's data that can help us sell existing ad inventory differently and more effectively, and we will be doing that as we get through that first year,” Stankey said.

Without adding subscribers, using data to build new ad models should increase ad rates and open up new inventory.

But Stankey said AT&T wants to have a business with two healthy revenue streams.

“If customers really like a broad plethora of content, broad choice, you need both subscription and advertising to have the maximum amount of content being built," he said. “And we think that's the right thing for the industry and it's the right thing for the consumer.”

FilmStruck, Turner’s new SVOD service for film aficionados, has added a key platform with the debut of an app for Roku players and Roku TVs.

FilmStruck, a service managed by Turner Classic Movies in partnership with the Criterion Collection, has also built support for the Google Chromecast, Apple TV (fourth generation), Amazon Fire TV, Web browsers, iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, as well as Android TV devices. FilmStruck notes on its web site that support for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One is "coming soon." 

RELATED: FilmStruck Does Android TV 
Meanwhile, user experience/interface specialist You.i TV announced that it now powers apps for Roku Scene Graph 7.6, supporting standard monetization and discovery features of the platform  such as deep linking, in-app purchasing, analytics, and the Roku Advertising Framework (RAF).  FilmStruck is first-to-market on this solution, using a small 86 kilobyte BrightScript footprint, said You.i TV, which uses a unified codebase for other platforms, including iOS, Android, tvOS, Android TV, Fire TV, Xbox, PlayStation, and Tizen, among others.

RELATED: FilmStruck Goes Live on Web Browsers, Android, Fire TV

Last fall, You.i TV announced a $12 million "B" round led by Time Warner Investments. 

Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu have all but locked up the mass-market entertainment options for subscription video-on-demand services.

In their wake, a flurry of more targeted services have surfaced. Today, there’s no shortage of over-the-top SVOD services from startups and well-heeled media conglomerates trying to gratify individual desires away from the traditional world of pay TV.

Turner is trying to appeal to film aficionados with FilmStruck. NBCUniversal’s Seeso is shooting for laughs. And Shudder, owned by AMC Networks, hinges on horror.

Even Amazon, which is becoming an SVOD kingmaker of sorts with its ever-expanding Amazon Channels aggregation service, has launched a niche service of its own, called Anime Strike, that takes aim at Crunchyroll, a standard bearer in the OTT sector.

But consumer buying habits indicate that many of these focused SVOD services face an uphill battle as they look to lure in enough customers to drive significant scale.

This struggle for scale could, ironically, play into the hands of traditional MVPDs, which are starting to integrate and monetize complementary OTT services and already have direct relationships with millions of consumers.

The average U.S. broadband home now subscribes to between one and two SVOD services, according to a new study from Parks Associates. And though 60% of those homes subscribe to some sort of video-streaming service, just 10% of those households — a group of “avid viewers” — take more than two, Glenn Hower, senior analyst at Parks Associates, said.

Simply “finding the audience” is a big challenge for any SVOD service that’s not Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime, Hower said.

Another complication is creating a business with a competitive price that can turn a tidy profit. Parks’s research pins the average spending on an OTT SVOD service at about $8 per month.

“There are some instances where services are getting more creative with their business models,” Hower said. OTT services such as Hulu and CBS All Access, for example, offer both ad-free tiers and ones that are supplemented by commercials.

SVODs are using an array of tactics and strategies to help them stand apart, creating new forms of aggregation services, service packaging and bundling, special perks, and forging a sense of community among like-minded viewers.

“For us, a big learning has been that you kind of have to do everything,” Matt Hullum, CEO of Rooster Teeth, a digital-first content studio focused on comedy and gaming, said. “We’ve embraced the concept of making our service more of an experience … a more well-rounded, holistic experience for our audience and our community.”

Rooster Teeth has also doubled down on offering ancillary benefits that are fine-tuned to its viewership. Last year, it launched a two-tier strategy, with subscriptions tailored to its core fans and to “superfans” willing to pay a premium for extras, such as VIP tickets to Rooster Teeth events.

The higher-end offering, called Double Gold, costs $34.99 per month and offers 10% discounts on Rooster Teeth merchandise and a monthly box of goodies that’s valued at more than $60.

The approach appears to be working, as Rooster Teeth’s paid subscriber base has about doubled in about a year and now sits above 200,000. That’s in addition to the 28 million who subscribe to its YouTube network and the 3 million visitors to its RoosterTeeth.com hub.

“We have a definitive audience, but I wouldn’t say it’s a niche audience. It’s not a small group,” Hullum said.

Developing and offering strong content is still critically important, but interacting with the community and offering opportunities that go beyond that content is key to establishing a stickier experience, he said.

SVOD services are also trying to stand apart by allowing users to download videos so viewers can watch without a high-speed Internet connection, Dan Taitz, chief operating officer of Penthera Partners, said. “It’s not a replacement for or substitute for streaming, but a great add-on for consumers,” he said.

And it’s an add-on that’s getting added on more frequently. Amazon Prime has been offering downloads for years, and Netflix recently added that option for certain pieces of content, including many of its original series.

“The tide is shifting so that it [downloading] is more standard,” Taitz said. Penthera, which makes a video-downloading platform called “Cache & Carry” that counts Comcast among its customers, is in talks with several SVOD services about adding offline viewing to the mix, he said.

While those players will need to integrate a downloading capability into their streaming platform, obtaining the rights for downloading is the bigger issue for some OTT services. “But I think the content owners are coming around,” Taitz said.

SVOD In the Age of Aggregation

While a sense of community and special perks are luring SVOD subs, those services are also looking to a tried-and-true tactic from the traditional pay TV world — packaging and aggregation — to help move the needle.

Among the standout examples of this are Amazon Channels, an option from Amazon Prime that debuted in late 2015, and VRV, a newer offering from Ellation (a portfolio company of Otter Media, the OTT joint venture of AT&T and The Chernin Group) focused on a core anime audience with adjacencies into areas like gaming, science fiction and animation.

Amazon Channels has already expanded to about 100 SVOD partners, including recent additions of HBO and Cinemax, from the 30-plus that were on board at launch.

Amazon hasn’t put an exact figure on the performance of Amazon Channels, but said Prime members now have “millions” of video subscriptions through the service.

The performance of Amazon Channels so far is “a validation of this platform idea,” Michael Paull, vice president, digital video at Amazon, said, noting that it presents consumers with “one simple, integrated experience” that does not require subscripers to hop from app to app.

“As we’re seeing this evolution of the TV space, we’ve been very, very focused on providing a great experience and reducing pain points,” he said.

DISCOVERABILITY IS KEY

Amazon Channels will continue to expand, Paull said. “I don’t see a ceiling on the number of services that we would want on our platform,” he said, saying Amazon is in a unique spot because it has a large customer base and access to data that enables it to craft targeted marketing messages and match consumers to SVOD services that fit their interests.

Bundling SVOD services and being able to match them to the consumer “is a tremendously powerful marketing concept,” Colin Dixon, founder and chief analyst of nScreenMedia, said. “Discoverability” is a major issue that new and more niche-focused SVOD services need to overcome, though, he added.

“Our vision is to offer a complete over-the-top video solution, where we provide the most choice through the widest selection of the best content all in one experience,” Paull said.

That strategy varies greatly from the one being implemented by VRV, which focuses on services that connect with fans of anime, gaming and animation.

In addition to selling those SVOD services individually, VRV also offers a deeply discounted bundle though a “Combo Pack” that combines eight services for $9.99 per month — Crunchyroll, Mondo, Funimation, Rooster Teeth, Cartoon Hangover, Nerdist, Geek & Sundry and Tested. Those networks would cost a total of more than $33 if purchased individually.

VRV is also selling those services, as well as Ginx, Machinima, Rifftrax, Seeso and Shudder, on an a la carte basis. Of that group, Cartoon Hangover and Mondo are exclusive to VRV.

VRV soft-launched its service late last year and expects to ratchet up marketing efforts this year. It hasn’t disclosed any subscriber numbers.

“We’re definitely exceeding our expectations,” Mike Aragon, VRV’s general manager, said. “We’re seeing great usage across all of the channels.”

The budding SVOD aggregation service will also be looking to gain more traction in the coming weeks by adding an account-linking feature could help to expose existing subscribers from services like Crunchyroll to VRV’s broader subscription slate and bundle.

Dixon is also a fan of VRV’s decision to stay focused with a service that’s designed to “superserve one set of consumers.”

But one lingering question hanging about VRV’s approach — and all newcomers to the space — is how it makes money through its deeply discounted bundle.

“We have a very unique way of looking at the economics,” Aragon said, adding that the plan for now is to band together with partners and focus on growth and engagement with the new platform. “We’re confident that we’ll have a healthy and profitable business. SVOD services are about scale. Our message to our partners is: ‘Let’s get to scale and let’s get to scale together.’ ”

VRV is initially offered in the U.S., but has plans to launch internationally, “With the fan base we’re targeting and serving, there are no borders for that,” Aragon said.

Some SVODs see bundling as an ancillary, but not necessarily core, method to bring more subscribers on board.

Rooster Teeth is among the first SVODs to work with VRV. “We really like it in the sense that it gets us on a lot more platforms instantaneously that we aren’t able to access right away,” Hullum said. “It helps us get connected to new audiences that may not have noticed us before. For us, [VRV] is a good first opportunity to try out bundling.”

CuriosityStream, the nonfiction-focused SVOD service launched in mid-2015 by Discovery Communications founder John Hendricks, sells its service directly and through Amazon Channels.

Most subscribers are still being obtained directly, though a smaller portion of them find the Amazon Channels process easier, Elizabeth Hendricks North, CuriosityStream’s CEO, said.

“It’s been a healthy partnership for us,” she said of the Amazon Channels deal. “It’s been positive on our end.”

Despite the benefits of bundling, having a direct relationship with customers remains critically important. Prescription: Nutrition, a docuseries from CuriosityStream that went live earlier this month, was created because it was the top vote-getter when customers were asked to weigh in on possible new series.

“This direct relationship [with the audience] … is important because you can create content that speaks directly to them,” Hendricks North said.

DramaFever, the U.S.-based SVOD service that specializes in Korean TV and films and other international fare, has also turned to Amazon Channels to help drive more exposure. But instead of tapping Amazon Channels to offer the full SVOD service, it’s using that conduit to market DramaFever Instant, a version that offers a subset of the service’s full library.

The idea there is to provide a smaller sampling of the service, and hope it also entices some to upgrade to DramaFever’s primary SVOD service, Tim Lee, DramaFever’s director of licensing, said.

DramaFever on Set-Tops?

The surging SVOD market has largely been the domain of the retail OTT platforms. But pay TV providers are starting to get into the act.

TiVo, for example, already integrates services like Netflix and Hulu into its MSO-supplied platform. Dish Network has also taking similar steps on its broadband-connected Hopper DVRs, and Comcast has started down that path by integrating Netflix with X1.

DramaFever, acquired by Warner Bros. last year, is also in talks to integrate its SVOD service on MVPD set-tops, Lee said.

Dixon believes that pay TV operators must open up their platforms to OTT because consumers can and will go outside that universe to seek out the content they want. “Operators have an excellent opportunity to do what Amazon is doing for their customers,” he said. “But to do it, they have to move to a more open model. In my mind, the most important thing Comcast could do is … to get [its] guide on everybody’s television. That’s their anchor. If they’re not the guide, then Amazon is the guide, and they get all the incremental revenue.”

Although two to three over-the-top SVOD services appears to be where most households max out, the threshold may rise as more video dollars move away from traditional pay TV.

“Then, it’s a different calculation,” Dixon said.

FilmStruck, the new subscription VOD service from Turner for movie aficionados, has added a streaming platform to its menu by debuting an app for fourth-gen Apple TV devices.

RELATED: FilmStruck Goes Live on Web Browsers, Android, Fire TV

The service, which launched last month after a brief delay, is also offered on Web browsers, Android and iOS mobile devices and Fire TV devices. FilmStruck starts at at $6.99 per month, and $4 more per month for FilmStruck plus the Criterion Channel. An annual FilmStruck/Criterion Channel subscription is $99.

FilmStruck is expected to launch on the Roku platform in early 2017.

UPDATE: According to an email sent to registered users, FilmStruck is also planning to expand to the Chromecast, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2017.

After halting sign-ups temporarily during an apparent high volume of interested consumers, FilmStruck, the new subscription VOD service from Turner for movie aficionados, said Tuesday (November 1) that its provisioning system was back online.

RELATED: Turner to Go OTT With ‘FilmStruck’

FilmStruck went live yesterday on Web browsers, Android and iOS mobile devices, and Fire TV devices. Consumers can get a 14-day free trial of FilmStruck, which starts at $6.99 per month, and $4 more per month for FilmStruck plus the Criterion Channel. An annual FilmStruck/Criterion Channel subscription is $99. 

Sign-ups resumed last night:

#FilmStruck fans, we're up & running for you. Head to https://t.co/mlA2ts1hoA to check out our spotlight on Akira Kurosawa & more. pic.twitter.com/0ZxeA5aXfi

— FilmStruck (@FilmStruck) November 2, 2016

FilmStruck said it was experiencing a high volume of concurrent sign-ups soon after going live, but that it had resolved the issue on Tuesday evening.

In responses to questions posed by consumers via Twitter, FilmStruck noted that the service will become available on Apple TV (fourth generation) in December, and on Roku’s platform in “early 2017.”

FilmStruck had originally expected to launch on Oct. 19, but decided to delay the debut so it could  complete work on a “seamless registration process for subscribers”

Turner’s first-ever digital streaming service, FilmStruck, will debut Oct. 19, offering more than 900 classic, independent and foreign films to consumers on a subscription video-on-demand basis. A major component of the service will be exclusive access to the Criterion Collection studio library, which will launch on the service sometime in November.

UPDATE, 10-18-2016:Turner Delays Launch of FilmStruck

FilmStruck and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) general manager Jennifer Dorian recently spoke with Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead about the appeal of the service as well as FilmStruck’s potential subscriber base. Here’s an edited excerpt of their conversation.

NTV:What was the thinking behind creating the FilmStruck brand?

Jennifer Dorian: We have researched that a lot of fans are having a hard time with critically acclaimed, hard-to-find films and they are looking for them in multiple places, whether its streaming, on cable or on DVD and Blu-ray collections. We felt like this was the promise of the Internet: to put everything together in one place and really curate to a niche audience.

The economics work for streaming to niche audiences, so we were thinking that art house, independent cinema is a niche that’s underserved and we could be the home for it.

NTV:Why not launch the service in the linear cable space, similar to TCM?

JD: TCM is doing well and thriving in its environment on linear cable and with its TV everywhere authenticated app, so let that service do its thing. This is a new way for us to experiment and maybe take some risks that I wouldn’t want to take with a gem of a treasured brand such as TCM.

NTV:Will most of the content for FilmStruck come from the TCM library?

JD: We’ve worked with 30 distributors — mostly independent distributors and some major studios, like Miramax and Sony Pictures Classics — and we’ve cultivated a new library that is different than TCM. This is a departure from classic Hollywood. There are major film industries in Japan, Sweden, France, Italy, Mexico and Bollywood, so we’re going to have some fun with different storytellers from around the world. The first release of the service [includes] 23 movies from 23 countries and 15 languages. It’s a very different library than TCM.

NTV:How important is the Criterion Collection library acquisition for the service?

JD: It’s really huge that we are the exclusive streaming home for the Criterion library because they are a very respected and acclaimed name, they are a great brand and they have supplemental materials that are incredible for over 1,200 titles.

NTV:What specific audience demo do you expect to sign up for FilmStruck?

JD: Our research and our gut are both matching — we think it’s younger, 25-to-44-year-olds who are already streaming on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. They also all have pay TV cable as well; it’s not about cord-cutting, but rather loving entertainment so much that that’s where you spend a lot of your money. We’re also going after art-house film lovers who are streamers, and presumably they are easy to target and find through digital advertising as well as through community events and gatherings.

NTV:What platforms will FilmStruck be available on?

JD: We will initially launch on the Web via desktop, iOS and mobile devices and Android mobile devices. We’ll be exclusive on Amazon Fire TV for 30 days and then in late November we’ll be added to Apple TV OS fourth-generation generation [player]. December through March [2017] we’ll be adding Chromecast, Roku and PlayStation 4.

NTV:What makes you so confident that people will want to purchase a subscription to watch classic and art-house films in an ultra-crowded digital content environment?

JD: I think that the big players in the U.S. have already taken over the role of being all things to everybody, which leaves room for the independent niche services that appeal to fandoms and hobbyists, and I think the film community and film culture is a great community that needs to be served.

It’s less about streaming movies and more about celebrating film culture and film as art. Yes, we’re streaming movies, but we’re also streaming thematic curation and supplements that make you have a deeper, more immersive experience.

FilmStruck, Turner’s new OTT subscription VOD service for film aficionados, is set to launch to launch on October 19 on multiple platforms and start at $6.99 per month, the company announced Thursday.

The service, which will feature a large library of contemporary and classic arthouse, indie, foreign and cult films, will initially be offered on Amazon Fire TV devices, Web browsers, and iOS- and Android-powered mobile devices. It will also be available via Apple TV and other platforms and devices in the coming months, Turner said.

Plans for FilmStruck, a service developed and managed by Turner Classic Movies in partnership with the Criterion Collection, were announced in April.

RELATED: Turner to Go OTT With ‘FilmStruck’

FilmStruck, which will serve as the exclusive streaming home to the Criterion Collection library and The Criterion Channel (starting November 11), will be available in three pricing tiers: 

-A $6.99 per month subscription with “hundreds” of films along with exclusive fare and originally-produced pieces that will be refreshed frequently.

-A FilmStruck + The Criterion Channel Subscription that runs $10.99 per month, featuring the baseline FilmStruck service plus access to Criterion’s full streaming library of films and features, as well as original programming such as filmmaker profiles and curated series featuring “celebrated guests from the film world and beyond.”

-An annual subscription to FilmStruck + The Criterion Channel for a reduced price of $99.

Consumers will also have a chance to try out the service with a 14-day free trial.

FilmStruck's library will feature a library of curated, refreshed films indie studios such as as Janus Films, Flicker Alley, Icarus Films, Kino, Milestone, Zeitgeist, Film Movement, Global Lens, First Run Features, Oscilloscope Laboratories and Shout Factory, along with titles from majors such as Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Examples of individual titles to be featured include Babette's Feast, Blood Simple, Blow-Up, Breaker Morant, A Hard Day's Night, Mad Max, Metropolis, Moulin Rouge, My Life as a Dog, Paths of Glory, The Player, A Room with a View, Seven Samurai, The Seventh Seal, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Stardust Memories, The Trip to Bountiful, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Woodstock.

FilmStruck will also feature more than 70 curated and constantly refreshed programming “themes,” such as The Beauty of Italy (collection of films highlighting the country); Cinema Passport (a monthly showcase of the work of “countries rich in film history and culture); and Early Kubrick (early films from the renowned director Stanley Kubrick); and Panic Room (a monthly franchise that explores cult and indie horror film, hosted by actor-comedian Lucky Yates). 

The service will also include hosted introductions from film critics, actors and others, including Yates, actor Bill Hader, and film reporter, critic and TV host Alicia Malone. 

"Turner smartly identified a strategic way to move into the direct-to-consumer business by creating an over-the-top offering that was additive to the TV landscape, with programming not readily available in the streaming marketplace and that was completely differentiated from what TCM already offers," said Coleman Breland, president of Turner Content Distribution and TCM, in a statement. "FilmStruck super-serves a niche and devoted audience of film fans and will be a strong addition to Turner's portfolio of leading brands."

"FilmStruck is a departure from the timeless Hollywood classics that we offer at TCM and a genuinely distinct offering for the streaming marketplace, focusing on a thoughtfully curated experience around hard-to-find, critically acclaimed, independent films from the most celebrated libraries in the world," added Jennifer Dorian, general manager of TCM and FilmStruck."By combining the expertise at TCM and the Criterion Collection – two of the leading authorities in film preservation and history – we have created something really special that is a must-have for passionate film lovers."

Turner has set a fall launch for FilmStruck, a subscription VOD service for film aficionados.

FilmStruck, Turner’s first direct-to-consumer OTT service for the U.S., was developed and managed by Turner Classic Movies in partnership with the Criterion Collection.

Word of FilmStruck comes a little over a month after Turner chairman and CEO John Martin announced that the company planned to enter the direct-to-consumer business with a couple of products by the end of 2016.

Turner said the ad-free offering will feature a comprehensive and constantly refreshed library of films made up of “an eclectic mix of contemporary and classic art house, indie, foreign and cult films.”

FilmStruck will serve as the exclusive streaming home for the Criterion Collection, which will include the Criterion Channel, a new premium service programmed and curated by the Criterion team, Turner said. 

Turner said FilmStruck's library will  include films from  indie studios such as Janus Films, Flicker Alley, Icarus, Kino, Milestone and Zeitgeist, along with films from major movie studios including Warner Bros. Films on tap include Seven Samurai, A Hard Day's Night, A Room With A View, Blood Simple, My Life As A Dog, Mad Max, Breaker Morant and The Player, among others. 

Pricing for FilmStruck is still being determined, “but it will be competitively priced to other streaming movie services in the marketplace,” a Turner official said.

Notably, Fullcube, a startup that’s developed technology that helps partners integrate and automate subscription-based OTT and digital offerings, announced last month that it would be involved in a new multi-tiered digital product involving TCM.

Update: It was revealed Wednesday (April 27) that the programmer is working with Fullcube on TCM Backlot, a new fan club that offers exclusive content, contests for on-set tours, and other perks and benefits. 

Turner, which acquired iStreamPlanet last year, said FilmStruck ties into a broader strategy to “innovate beyond the traditional television ecosystem,” noting the formation of ELEAGUE, its new eSports League with WME|IMG set to launch this summer, and its recent investment in Mashable.

"At Turner, we are dedicated to engaging fans wherever they are, and we're investing aggressively in content, new capabilities and new businesses to achieve that goal,"Martin said, in a statement. “FilmStruck is a terrific example of our strategy to meet consumer demand for great content across all screens. It's tailor-made for the diehard movie enthusiast who craves a deep, intimate experience with independent, foreign, and art house films. And it takes advantage of TCM's powerful curation capabilities, as well as its proven track record in building a long-term relationship with passionate film fans."

"TCM is leading Turner's strategic move into the direct-to-consumer business with a truly differentiated and distinct streaming product that adds tremendous value to our portfolio," added Coleman Breland, president of TCM and Turner Content Distribution. "Together with our partners at the Criterion Collection, we are creating a must-have, premium film brand that will draw from the most celebrated movie libraries in the world."