Criterion Collection to launch stand-alone streaming service

NEW YORK (AP) - FilmStruck may be no more, but the Criterion Collection will live on as a subscription-streaming service.

In an announcement that warmed the hearts of cinephiles everywhere, Criterion said Friday that it has reached an agreement with WarnerMedia to launch the Criterion Channel as a stand-alone service in spring next year.

FilmStruck, the streaming offshoot of Turner Classic Movies and home to the Criterion’s catalog of arthouse classics, is to be shutdown Nov. 29. The decision sparked a backlash, with tens of thousands signing petitions and prominent filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson and Guillermo del Toro lobbying for FilmStruck’s preservation.

Additionally, the Criterion Collection will join WarnerMedia’s planned streaming service to launch late 2019.

Said Criterion in a statement: “The Criterion Channel will be picking up where FilmStruck left off.”