On Fri, Sep 2, 2011 at 1:21 AM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > > My new Comcast deal gets me discounted access to premium cable for the next > 2 years, so I no longer need Netflix for Starz, but this is a bit of a > problem for them. OTOH, like the article says, it is not unexpected - there > have been rumblings for some months that this kind of thing was going to > happen. I think the summer restructuring only makes sense if Netflx was > preparing for major (major) investment in content - and for the likelihood > that the sweetheart deals of the early stages of their streaming business > were a thing of the past. Again, as the article implies, the $30M Starz > contract with Netflix would have been redone at something around $300M - > Netflix no doubt had about that much already allocated for that, and now has > those funds available to go after some other content - together with even > more millions that they are shifting from their mail-order business to > streaming. The fact is, either Netflix will be able to acquire pretty major > streaming content deals over the next 12 to 18 months, at a huge price, or > they will be out of business in 3 to 5 years. My guess is they may not have > a lot of new deals in place by this February, but they will have announced a > few new deals that will take effect by the end of the year
More details emerge. According to the LA Times, Starz wanted to protect its premium brand by having its movies be an additional $8/month subscription on top of whatever Netflix is charging -- so you *know* you're buying Starz. So you get to pay twice as much as otherwise, even after Netflix offered $300M. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/09/netflix-offered-300-million-plus-but-starz-wanted-higher-prices.html -- Wesley McGee http://www.ambivi.com http://drawing-a-blank.tumblr.com -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
