It would seem the rumor from last week that Netflix is talking with the major television networks in the United States is definitely true.
Netflix announced today that it has reached an agreement with the ABC television network for not only in-season streaming rights, but also to an enormous amount of back catalog titles and episodes. The deal also covers an increase in the amount of episodes supplied by The Disney Channel, and, for the first time, content from ABC Family.
Apparently the deal is indeed for in-season rights, but episodes will not appear on Netflix until 15 days after their original telecast. The rumor from last week stated that these new deals would be an attempt to take on Hulu, but seeing the time difference in how long Netflix subscribers will have to wait for these shows, it won’t be as much of a challenge since Hulu gets the newest episodes in under 24 hours.
The new deal also covers back catalog titles such as previous seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, all the seasons of LOST and the complete run of Ugly Betty. From The Disney Channel Side of things, you will see more episodes of shows like Phineas and Ferb, The Suite Life On Deck and Wizards of Waverly Place, while ABC Family will be adding episodes of Greek, Make It or Break It and The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
“TV content streamed from Netflix has proven to be immensely popular with our members,” said Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer. “Adding to our existing Disney-ABC lineup with great network and cable shows, and opening up ABC Family for the first time, are important steps in creating a wide and diverse selection of content Netflix members of all ages can watch.”
The rumor from last week stated that Netflix was willing to pay upwards of $70,000 to $100,000 an episode for in-season streaming rights, our guess would be they didn’t pay anywhere close to that due to the how much content this covers. While we are sure the company paid a healthy amount for all of these shows, we can’t imagine it is anywhere near the prices we heard.
It remains to be seen if any other networks will be joining in all of the Netflix love, but we think it’s a pretty safe bet that this isn’t the last of these types of announcements.
What say you? Are you happy with the amount of content Netflix has been adding as of late to its Watch Instantly service?
