FilmStruck streamed the Criterion Collection for two years — WarnerMedia cut it

FilmStruck launched on 1 November 2016 from Turner Classic Movies and the Criterion Collection: a streaming home for classic, foreign and art-house cinema, with curated seasons, filmmaker interviews and 500 films at launch, 200 of them Criterion's. It grew to more than 1,600 titles by February 2018 — over 1,200 from Criterion — absorbed Warner Archive Instant that April, and added Warner Bros. classics like Casablanca and Citizen Kane. Subscriptions ran around $20 a month.

On 26 October 2018 WarnerMedia announced the service would end. Turner and Warner Bros. Digital Entertainment called FilmStruck 'largely a niche service' and redirected the investment toward their mass-market portfolio as the company prepared HBO Max; sources said the decision was made before AT&T had even closed its acquisition of Time Warner. FilmStruck shut down on 29 November 2018.

The outcry from cinephiles, filmmakers and film teachers was immediate and public. On 12 November 2018 filmmakers issued an open appeal, and on 16 November WarnerMedia and Criterion announced that the Criterion Channel would launch as a standalone service in spring 2019 — the niche Warner had cancelled, rebuilt under a new name.