At long last, you can get Warner Archive's streaming channel on iPad. Sign up here for a free two-week trial, then go get the app. It's been available on Roku, and having the account allows access on either device. The library is continually growing, and includes loads of things in HD that aren't yet on Blu-ray. The app is Airplay-capable for AppleTV users.
Electric Shadow
Screen Time #35 WatchList: Movies Are Not Screwdrivers
Warner Archive's George Feltenstein and I talked about their month-old Warner Archive Instant (WAI) service, misreporting on the internet (ahem), and a ton of great rare and hard-to-find movies and TV shows from Warner Archive Collection (WAC).
The following movies and TV shows were discussed or mentioned during episode 35 of Screen Time, "Movies Are Not Screwdrivers". Almost every single one of these can be found on Warner Archive Instant, which US readers/listeners can try free for two weeks.
The embedded YouTube trailers are almost all user-uploaded versions and don't reflect the (exponentially higher) actual product. Where possible, I used Warner's own clips or trailers from YouTube. The individual WAI pages for each title feature much better trailers in most cases.
Netflix Instant Loses Nearly 2000 Titles Today
My friend Christina Warren over at Mashable has it wrong that all of these expiring movies are going to Warner Archive Instant...since none of the expiring titles were WB to begin with. I'm surprised she had never heard of WAI, too.
Part of Reed Hastings' statement on letting their Viacom deal lapse was saying that, more broadly, Netflix is letting go of non-exclusive content.
If Warner is putting more of their deep cut stuff on WAI, then it would theoretically be Netflix's choice in a future when they start dropping WB titles, and not greedy, evil Warners yanking away the content.
Update on 2013-05-02 01:36 by Moises Chiullan
When I posted this, I didn't realize how crazily this whole thing had spread. Makes me hate the internet.
I'm more angry than I was earlier about this particular paragraph that Christina wrote, which has yet to be amended, corrected, or retracted:
So why are these titles leaving Netflix? Licensing. The titles belong to Warner Bros., MGM and Universal and will soon only be accessible through the Warner Archive Instant service — a service I didn't even know existed. For $10 a month you can get a selection of streaming films only slightly better than what Redbox Instant offers.
The "WB/Uni/MGM titles will go to Warner Archive Instant"? Completely untrue. Her assessment of WAI's selection following a soft-launch as being "only slightly better than what Redbox Instant offers"? That's her opinion, but I would point out that this snark toward WAI is undeserved, especially from an entertainment journalist who writes for one of the most-read sites on the web who didn't so much as notice that a major studio launched a streaming service almost exactly one month ago.
Most importantly, if you're going to say "all this stuff is going to this other service", at least attribute a source. Where did this info drop out of the sky? I'd love to know.
Shame on Ars Technica likewise for rallying more torches and pitchforks, heaping culpability on WB without doing any due diligence of their own.
Also worth noting...the "2000" titles are expiring throughout the month of May, not all at once on this day of "Streamageddon". Here's InstantWatcher's dynamically-loading list of titles soon-to-expire.
Southern California Public Radio made an italicised partial correction at the bottom of this post. Author Mike Roe cries tears for the James Bond movies Netflix had disappearing, but this has happened before.
Someone just find me this magic list of "hundreds of Warner Bros. movies" that have allegedly been greedily snatched away, and I swear I'll shut up.
10 Days In, Warner Archive Instant Adds More Titles
To those who criticized the limited initial selection of titles, this doesn't look like a bad first update, huh?