Later today, Criterion is supposed to announce the slate of DVD and Blu-ray titles that it’ll be putting out in July. (If the press release goes out this afternoon, we’ll have coverage on the site tomorrow morning.) In the meantime, there’s already some good Criterion news today: The Hulu Plus streaming video subscription service just renewed its licensing agreement with the cinephile-friendly home-video company, and for the near future will continue to host more than 800 films that Criterion itself has licensed, including some that Criterion has yet to release via physical media.

The original Hulu/Criterion deal was a feather in the cap for Hulu, which still falls well short of Netflix and YouTube in its share of the streaming video market. I know that one of the main reasons that I hang on to my Hulu Plus subscription is so that I’ll have on-demand access to the Criterion titles; and I’m sure that’s true for a lot of movie buffs. Hulu Plus could change its name to Criterion Plus tomorrow, drop everything else that’s currently available, and I’d still be a subscriber. And while I wish Criterion was still partnered up with Netflix (a more convenient service to use, for me at least), I like the attention that Hulu has paid to spotlighting the Criterion association, and giving the company its own page. That bodes well for this being a lasting collaboration.