FilmStruck was launched on November 1, 2016, after being announced in April 2016. At the time of its launch, FilmStruck had 500 movies available to stream, 200 of them from the Criterion Collection library. As of February 2018, the combined channels on the service provided access to over 1,600 films, including more than 1,200 films licensed from the Criterion Collection. On April 26, 2018, FilmStruck absorbed sister stand-alone service
Warner Archive Instant, with current and new subscribers to the FilmStruck website. On October 26, 2018, it was announced FilmStruck would shut down on November 29, 2018, due to
WarnerMedia's restructuring. Four days after the letter was released, WarnerMedia and Criterion announced that The Criterion Channel would launch as a standalone service in Spring 2019, with a smaller version of the service also being available via
HBO Max, then WarnerMedia's upcoming streaming platform when it launched on May 27, 2020. == Library and programming ==