Criterion on Demand

Criterion Pictures has developed an on-line digital delivery feature film platform called Criterion-on-Demand. Our goal is to provide easy access to educationally relevant feature films used in Canadian Higher Education Institutions. We have been working closely with Colleges and Universities to ensure we meet the needs of this market sector."

Features of the product include:

A dedicated post-secondary bilingual website that offers title information, search capabilities, lists new releases and accepts title requests
More than 1500 English titles
More than 1100 French titles
Approximately 135 foreign language films with English subtitles
More than 100 documentary features
Subtitles and/or Closed Captioned titles when available
Both streaming and download options
MARC records
Access via IP authentication including off-campus access
Unlimited 24-7 access
Programs available in Silverlight with DRM protection
High quality media files

[From vendor]

Last updated: May 4, 2015

View current product description on the vendor's website

Multi-Consortial Note:

This license is made available through a national site license negotiated on behalf of Consortia Canada by the Ontario Colleges Library Service (OCLS).

Vendor:

Criterion Pictures

Supporting documents:

Full Resource Details

Frequently Asked Questions

The following are some of the questions asked by libraries and consortia as the trial has progressed.

What if two students want to stream the same film at the same time?

They'll both get to watch it. This is an unlimited streaming service. Criterion believes they have sufficient bandwidth and server capacity to support many simultaneous streams of the same or different films.

The licence says in 2(b) "personal, non-commercial and educational or research viewing". What exactly does that mean?

The licence is for educational use. Here are some examples of permitted uses:

the instructor shows a film to students in the classroom or in the library's showing room
the instructor tells students to watch the film (on or off campus) over the weekend and come to the next class prepared to discuss it
the instructor gives students a “reading list” of 10 films and tells them to watch one (or more) and write an essay about it
a masters student doing thesis on a famous director repeatedly views films by that director

Here are some examples which are NOT educational use and would not be permitted:

the university holds an event open to the public and wants to stream a film from the CoD platform
a student club wants to hold a movie night on campus and stream the film via CoD

However, note the question below about the Criterion Entertainment PPR licence. If a school has the Entertainment PPR licence, the above two examples would be permitted.

My school has the Criterion Public Performance Rights (PPR) licence which allows for Entertainment uses. Does that expand the use(s) they may make of the CoD service?

Yes. The Entertainment PPR licence requires that the film being shown is a legitimate copy (i.e. purchased by library, the instructor's personal copy, etc.), not an illegal copy. The CoD platform is a legitimate source for films. Note that the Entertainment PPR licence only covers on-campus viewing. Off campus entertainment use is never permitted.

Can users view all films from off campus?

Most films may be viewed from on campus and off campus. All Fox Studios films, however, can only be viewed from on campus.

Do the films have Closed Captioning (CC)?

No, but most films have subtitles. Subtitling may not meet accessibility requirements. The vendor states they're working on CC, but it is expensive and will not be complete anytime soon.

Can the MARC records be loaded to a knowledge base or discovery layer?

Yes. Libraries can use whatever local access tools they wish to handle the MARC records, including the ILS and other such tools. Instructors can then freely copy those links into Learning Management Systems or online syllabi as desired.

Where can I get technical support?

Technical issues and questions should be reported via the vendor's contact form: http://www.criterionondemand.com/technical-support

Can I request titles be added to the collection?

Yes - Criterion is willing to add new titles to the platform at the request of libraries. Criterion must already hold the Canadian rights for the film/studio in question. The request form is available at: http://www.criterionondemand.com/about-criterion-on-demand/title-suggestions

How do I set up an EZproxy entry for Criterion on Demand?

Here's is an example EZproxy configuration.