Good deal for advancing the tech, but exclusive deals bother me...
----- Original Message ----- From: "Kelwyn" <ravena...@yahoo.com> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, August 13, 2010 1:02:30 PM Subject: [scifinoir2] Netflix movie deal could upend pay TV http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/08/netflix-and-epix-working-on-major-digital-partnership-to-shake-up-pay-tv-landscape.html In a deal that could transform the landscape for digital movie distribution, start-up pay-TV channel Epix is in serious negotiations to give Netflix exclusive online rights to films from its three equity partners -- Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The five-year arrangement would allow Netflix subscribers to watch movies such as "Iron Man 2," "Dinner for Schmucks" and this week's release "The Expendables" via the company's Internet streaming service, according to several people familiar with the situation. The agreement would make Netflix, best known for its DVD-by-mail business, a potentially formidable competitor to Time Warner's dominant pay channel Home Box Office, which has movies from Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures. As more people watch Internet content on their televisions, Netflix has been investing huge amounts of money to acquire content for its streaming video service. It already has a deal with Liberty Media's pay channel Starz, which brings it movies from Walt Disney Studios and Sony Pictures. Netflix also recently acquired exclusive pay-TV window rights for films produced by Relativity Media.
