While Universal Pictures stayed the course and stuck with tradition by extending its domestic output deal with HBO, Deadline Hollywood reports that Warner Bros. went with the new wave and against its recent frosty relationship with Netflix by licensing complete previous seasons of eight drama series to the streaming giant. The series include Revolution, Political Animals, Longmire, 666 Park Avenue, The Following, Chuck, Fringe, and The West Wing. A Netflix executive calls it an “unprecedented agreement” that “is making the production economics right for the continued creation of the kind of compelling serialized dramas and thrillers that our members love.”
Although big media companies (including Warner Bros.) have watched Netflix with growing resentment as the company’s business model improved its stock price and won awards to its CEO, the above statement from Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos is mostly ironic because there is a legitimate industry concern that the streaming giant will cannibalize ad-supported TV. Netflix announced a similar deal with Disney in the beginning of December 2012, making the streaming company “the exclusive U.S. subscription television service for first-run live-action and animated feature films from The Walt Disney Studios.”
