Netflix Is Broken Beyond Repair. This Streaming Platform Shows a Better Way.

To celebrate their fifth anniversary this April, the Criterion Channel unveiled a new addition: a livestream. Criterion24/7 is a never-ending playlist of films from the deep reaches of the channel, showing well-known classics, international masterpieces, and obscure indies. It’s also the best way to watch movies right now, from the best streaming service we have.

Criterion24/7 is incredibly basic. There’s no guide and only a single channel. You’ll have to go to their website to check what’s playing and when the next film will start. You can’t see what’s coming next or what you’ve missed (though at least one fan has started a database). There’s no thematic link between programming: In a single afternoon, I caught the end of Arrested Development director Greg Mottola’s debut film Daytrippers (1997), and the beginning of Jacques Demy’s sung-through musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964). Both of these films happen to also be in the Criterion Collection, the long-presiding arbiter of art-house taste, though not everything on Criterion24/7 is available in a DVD box set.

The channel is representative of Criterion’s evolution over the past five years as they continue to broaden their definition of films worth seeing. Though the collection has added more Black directors since this 2020 article found that only 4 of their more than 1,000 films were directed by Black Americans, the collection remains a pioneer of a slightly staid brand of mostly Western European, American, and Japanese filmmaking.

By contrast, the Criterion Channel is more experimental, diverse, and irreverent. In March’s Razzies collection, they highlighted the Ben Affleck–Jennifer Lopez crime drama released at the height of Bennifer, Gigli (2003), and Paul Verhoeven’s still-controversial erotic thriller Showgirls (1995). The channel has embraced programming that has struggled to find traction on other streamers, like shorts and documentaries, and has continuously highlighted female directors and directors from other underrepresented backgrounds.

The Criterion Channel was started in April 2019 by the Criterion Collection, replacing Turner Classic Movies’ streaming service FilmStruck, which shut down after Warner Bros. Discovery (then called WarnerMedia) restructured. Yes, that sounds complicated—and it makes it all the more miraculous that the Criterion Channel has continued these five long years without revamping or price hikes. Most streamers are in a constant state of flux with evolving price tiers, rebrands, and mergers—not to mention the nonstop churn of original programming. In comparison, the Criterion Channel looks mostly identical to how it did on launch day.

The ease of the channel, combined with its uniquely curated programming, has already made it a favorite among both film buffs looking for films they can’t find anywhere else and casual film watchers who want access to the canon. Unlike most of the major streamers, Criterion is not a publicly traded company and does not announce their profits or subscriber numbers. Despite its major reputation, the Criterion Collection is still a relatively niche service for a specific, devoted audience.

Criterion24/7 is not the first streamer to offer a live channel. Tubi, Pluto, and Peacock all have channels devoted to dozens of different genres and properties, though they’re ad-supported, unlike Criterion24/7. But again, Criterion24/7’s strengths are in its retro simplicity. There’s no option to scroll. You either watch or turn it off.

The backlash against Big Tech has never been stronger, from concerns about A.I. to the outcry over Apple’s latest ad campaign to growing concerns about self-driving cars. When Netflix first offered an endless scroll of content in 2007, it was a novelty. Rather than flick through preselected programming, users could select from a variety of choices à la carte, and their tastes would then be reflected in a personalized algorithm, allowing Netflix to collect valuable user data while retaining users with the promise of more content to enjoy.

But two decades into streaming Netflix, the endless scroll doesn’t feel like a luxury. It feels like just another chore. Every streamer has an impossible array of choices, and then there’s the increasing number of apps to choose from, and the constantly rotating names and rebrands to keep track of. Remembering what show you wanted to watch on which streamer requires another app, another listicle, and another shared password and username because nobody wants to pay for all the services that feel like a necessity to participate in popular culture.

Speculation that streamers are just slowly and painstakingly reinventing cable has been around since 2022. But it’s become clear that the streaming model is painfully flawed. Disney just announced that their streaming service only lost $18 million last quarter. What streaming programming will look like in the future is unclear, but the trend toward conglomeration seems ongoing—as evidenced by the Disney+, Hulu, and Max bundle promised for this summer. It won’t be surprising if they adopt a similar channel model to cash in on users’ decision fatigue and nostalgia for major IP: one channel for Disney princesses, one channel for The Sopranos, etc.

Since its launch, Criterion24/7 has become the first thing I turn to. The comfort of knowing there will always be a great film that I didn’t have to pick reminds me of when I first started to love movies, back when I was living alone in my mid-20s and constantly watching over-the-air television. I was never going to figure out how to install, much less pay for, an expensive cable package in my rental—but I could get 20 to 35 free channels, depending on the weather and how I nudged my antenna. I got my fill of a self-made algorithm during the dreary height of the COVID pandemic. Now I find pleasure in knowing there’s an audience out there watching the same thing at the same time.

Criterion24/7 has made great cinema even more accessible without sacrificing the viewer experience. There are no ads, no distractions, no encouragement to “second-screen” their offerings by watching alongside a phone open to social media—and no visible runtime or lofty description to intimidate potential viewers. There are probably purists out there who dislike the idea of someone jumping halfway into Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975), but I celebrate the return of casual, engaged movie-watching. Before streaming services primarily provided background noise for folding laundry and texting, watching movies at home was fun. Criterion24/7 is a reminder that it still can be.