Following Game-Changing Disney Deal, Netflix Talking with Other Studios

By Karla Robinson
December 7, 2012

Netflix just secured exclusive rights to new Disney titles after their theatrical releases, and the streaming service hopes to make similar deals with other studios.
For the Disney deal, Netflix outbid premium channel Starz, and will get exclusive access for a specified time window starting in 2016, as reported earlier on ETCentric.
“The deal, estimated to cost Netflix $350 million a year, was seen as a major coup,” the New York Post writes. “It marked the first time a big Hollywood studio had picked a Web rival for that crucial pay TV window over a premium channel such as HBO, Showtime and Starz.”
Netflix content boss Ted Sarandos discussed the company’s content strategy at the UBS annual media conference in New York. He said Netflix is also talking with Universal to get movies, and suggests the service might even look into a deal with Warner Bros.
Netflix is trying to “accelerate the windows and get fresher content,” according to Sarandos. “Warner’s deal [with HBO] is up in 2014. This gives Warner the opportunity to do other things, to look at this.”
“Sarandos pointed out that Netflix was working with Universal to get movies on the streaming service that perhaps HBO didn’t want,” explains the article. “He cited animated film ‘The Lorax,’ as an example, saying that family programming was high on Netflix’s agenda but less so for HBO.”
That said, Time Warner owns both HBO and Warner Bros. so the likelihood seems slim, the article suggests.

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