Filmstruck Forthcoming.

It was revealed today that Filmstruck, the fascinating sounding new online film streaming platform from TCM, launches on October 19th.

It is with a great sense excitement that one relays this information, but also with a hint of sadness, given that, for now at least, the service remains a US-only endeavour. While there will no doubt be workarounds it remains a shame nevertheless, that rights issues and the like remain a holdup in the age of the digital.

Poor curation is a major blight on streaming services, with it perhaps too great an undertaking for the companies that would previously have released films on blu-ray and DVD in a boutique capacity to do so in this new arena. Websites like Mubi, and the BFI Player make for great starting phases, but it would be nice to see a juggernaut like Filmstruck, with their Warner and Criterion catalogues, amongst others, tackle the European market too.