CW Shows Soon Heading To Netflix Quicker Than Most

Variety reports a new deal between The CW and Netflix will bring the network’s shows to the streaming service as quickly as two weeks after season end.  For Netflix subscribers, that means no more months’ long waits for Arrow, The Flash, or iZombie to be available.

The Netflix deal appears to come from CW’s falling out with Hulu.  Hulu currently has access to the five most recent episodes of a show’s run, but wanted access to entire seasons.  CW stands to benefit greatly from ending their Hulu contract with potentially bringing more viewers to the CW’s own website to watch current episodes.

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It will be interesting to see how CW’s self-hosted episodes are received.  Netflix has proven, through Breaking Bad for example, that having previous seasons available on their service can boost ratings of current seasons. If the network finds success in bringing viewers to their page to watch recently aired episodes, expect more networks to seek similar deals.  The current trend for networks is to create their own streaming service with various subscription models.  The CW is betting on using the largest existing service to bring in new viewers without making too much of an investment.  If anything, the network is getting quite a deal.

The speedy turn around comes at a, rumored, value of over $1 billion for at least five years.  The exact cost of the contract is unknown due to various details including success of new shows, how long existing shows have been on the air, and other items not yet disclosed.

Truly impressive is Netflix’s ability to convert whole seasons for viewing on multiple platforms and devices, caption, and translate within two weeks of season’s end.

Shows like DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash, Arrow, Jane the Virgin, The 100, and Containment, are certainly part of the deal.  Upcoming shows like Riverdale and Frequency will likely be put into the contract as well.  There was no mention of Supergirl season one being part of the deal (as it aired on CBS). Older series seem to be excluded, but fingers crossed that one day we might get the entire series run of Smallville streaming someday soon.

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