Many were sad to see Criterion's film collection leave Hulu back in 2016 as the service moved to FilmStruck, its new (and short-lived) collaboration with Turner. Shortly after FilmStruck was wound down, Criterion revealed its plans to launch its own streaming service, continuing the "Criterion Channel" name. Now we've got all the details about the new service, which is scheduled to launch on April 8th for $10-11 a month.

Those that sign up as so-called "Charter Subscribers" will get a free 30-day trial to the new streaming service, plus a reduced $10 per month (or $90 annual) fee. If you decide to wait, that price will be $11 a month or $100 annually. Interested parties can sign up now over at the Criterion Channel's site.

Charter Subscribers that subscribe now are also able to watch some films early via Criterion's Movie of the Week series, which will show a new film starting every Wednesday until that April 8th launch date. After you subscribe, you'll be able to watch it from your browser, and easily stream to your Chromecast — which could indicate future cast support for the Criterion Channel service when it lands.

Content availability for Criterion's full catalog is also unclear. The new service "will be picking up where the old service left off," with curated content like spotlights, retrospectives, and special features being included, but it isn't clear if the entire Criterion collection will be available all at once. Criterion's library is also coming to Warner Media's upcoming media platform this year so the Criterion Channel won't be your only option for watching Criterion Collection movies.

Although we've reached out to Criterion for additional details previously — especially surrounding Chromecast support — we have yet to receive a response, so those details are still unknown. The service will be coming to Android as well as desktop, Roku, Amazon Fire streaming hardware, Apple TV, and iOS. Presumably, we'll find out more by April 8th.

Source: Criterion