Netflix Inks Pact with The Weinstein Co. for Pay TV Window
Netflix outbid CBS’s Showtime Networks for an output deal with The Weinstein Co. that makes the Internet-streaming provider the exclusive U.S. subscription television service for first-run films from TWC, beginning in 2016.
Currently, The Weinstein Co. has an output deal with Showtime, which cabler said will let it continue to offer movies through 2018. Netflix will offer TWC and Dimension Films pics to subscribers starting with 2016 theatrically released feature films.
Terms of the multiyear deal were not disclosed.
Harvey Weinstein, in a statement, said pact “is probably the biggest deal in the history of The Weinstein Company and together, we are discussing ways to reinvent the pay TV experience so that the audience can get even more for their money.”
“Their enthusiasm for movies of all kinds was the big factor in our choosing Netflix,” Harvey Weinstein continued. “Moving forward, when people see The Weinstein Company name on a movie they know that our pay TV partner is the most significant new force in the entertainment industry — Netflix.”
Showtime said it will continue to carry The Weinstein Co.’s films “well into 2018.” Premium cabler has exclusive output deal with TWC for movies released in theaters through 2015, which means studio’s films will premiere in their premium window on Showtime and The Movie Channel (as well as multiplex channels) through 2017 and will air in their first windows on the networks into 2018.
Neither HBO nor Starz bid for the TWC output deal, according to sources.
Netflix last year sealed pay-TV window pact for TWC docus and foreign films, including the “The Artist” (winner of 2012 Academy Award for best picture) and “Undefeated” (Oscar winner for best documentary in 2012), as well as a range of movies released by multiplatform distribution label RADiUS-TWC.
“Harvey and Bob Weinstein are in a class of their own when it comes to choosing and producing the best films in the world,” Netflix content chief Ted Sarandos said. “They are as innovative in business as they are creative in their storytelling. We look forward to reinventing the pay TV window with the Weinsteins.”
Deal continues Netflix’s buying spree for streaming content. Company landed pact with DreamWorks Animation in June, which Internet streamer said represented its largest ever for first-run content. Under that multiyear agreement, Netflix will become the exclusive home for 300-plus hours of new programming from DWA.
Last December, Netflix signed deal with Walt Disney Co., giving it exclusive access to new and catalog titles from the Mouse House during the pay TV window in the U.S., after Disney’s existing output pact with Starz wraps up at the end of 2015.
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