Turner’s recently launched SVOD FilmStruck is now available on second-generation Google Chromecast and Chromecast Ultra devices.
The service is already available on Apple TV 4th generation devices, Amazon Fire TV, web browsers, iOS and Android devices. Turner is promising FilmStruck will launch on Roku, Playstation 4 and Xbox One in the coming months.
FilmStruck, a streaming service for arthouse, indie, foreign and cult films, as well as the exclusive streaming source to the Criterion Collection, launched in November. It offers three different pricing tiers: FilmStruck Subscription for $6.99 per month, FilmStruck + The Criterion Channel Subscription for $10.99 per month and an Annual Subscription to FilmStruck + Criterion for $99 per year.
RELATED: FilmStruck resolves launch day sign-up problems, says user volume was the culprit
FilmStruck was initially delayed in launching because Turner was working out issues with the sign-in process. When the service did launch, some sign-up issues persisted but the company said those problems were due to high user volume and are now resolved.
“The delay was because we caught some stuff in QA and testing that we could have gone to market with but decided we didn’t want to. We wanted to perfect the product. These things are evolutions. You never release a perfect product,” Turner CTO Jeremy Legg told FierceBroadcasting about the FilmStruck delay.
Legg also provided some detail on transitioning over the Criterion library from Hulu’s ad-supported service to an SVOD like FilmStruck. In particular, he said the variety of formats in classic movies made it difficult to prepare the films for multiscreen viewing.
“Many of them are filmed in 4:3. They’re not made for 16:9. Many have multiple languages and subtitles. So as you try to deliver a consistent look and feel on an iPad or an iPhone versus a television set, it’s not simple to get all that content to format,” said Legg. “Video doesn’t just reformat because it’s on an iPhone. When the play button is pressed, we need to know what type of device it is. It’s hard to do but we pulled it off and we’re doing well from a subscription standpoint. We’re optimistic.”