Very disappointed to see news yesterday that FilmStruck is shutting down as of 29 November. Bummer. Really, bummer. I was just getting ready to re-subscribe. Now who’s going to pick up the slack of all those classic movies?

Revisited

Two cogent articles on the demise of FilmStruck have me revisiting one of the principles I’ve put to work in the last few years. Partly in anticipation of retiring and cutting expenses, I decided it was prudent to purchase in physical form (i.e., DVD or Blu-ray) the movies and TV shows that I really enjoy and want to watch again. But along with the goal of future expense-cutting was distrust of streaming services. For exactly the reasons that FilmStruck’s demise illustrate: I can’t count on streaming services to provide quality content. I can count on streaming services to provide  90% crap (Sturgeon’s Law at work), and to pull the good content for no good reason.

Cf., for example: Washington Post and New Yorker articles that validate my choices. Ergo, I want to own physical versions of the videos and books that I want to experience again. And to own a region-free DVD/Blu-ray player, which is on my wish-list for the apartment I’ll acquire some time next year for the long term.

Meanwhile, Amazon via Roku tells me that most of the content on my wishlist is “not available in your current location.” Which means, apparently, I’ll have to watch on the iPad via VPN, at least until the end of the year (that is, end of my US Amazon Prime subscription), and then see what’s included with Prime on Amazon.fr. Of course, I’ll keep you informed.