'The Walking Dead' among AMC shows coming to Netflix
Streaming-video provider Netflix will make prior seasons of "The Walking Dead" and several other prominent shows from AMC's channels available on its service.
Netflix has expanded its partnership with AMC Networks to bring many more shows to its streaming service.
The companies today announced that they have inked a multiyear agreement that delivers AMC hit "The Walking Dead" to Netflix. In addition, content from AMC's other networks, including IFC and the Sundance Channel, are also available on Netflix, thanks to the deal.
However, as with other deals Netflix has signed with television networks, there are some stipulations in this latest agreement. According to the companies, new seasons of "The Walking Dead," as well as "certain future AMC and Sundance Channel" shows, won't make their way to Netflix until "just prior to the premiere of subsequent seasons."
"This agreement supports the cable 'ecosystem' by making our content available to Netflix nearly a year following the linear premiere, it brings our content to a wider audience, and it provides additional revenue to support production of new shows," AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan said in a statement.
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AMC's latest agreement with Netflix expands on a deal the companies signed earlier this year that brought the first four seasons of "Mad Men" to the streaming service. Netflix users will need to wait until subsequent seasons air before they can access them on Netflix.
Netflix's decision to ink an expanded deal with AMC only further underscores the importance of television content on the streaming service. Earlier this week, Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said that "50 percent, and sometimes, 60 percent, of viewing (on Netflix) is TV episodes now." His statement followed comments made by his colleague, Netflix Chief Financial Officer David Wells, who said last month that television programming will soon play a more important role in Netflix's streaming library than feature-length films.
According to Wells, Netflix could be the solution for the "tons of orphan shows that never got a chance to find an audience while they were on on the air."
To further bolster its television offering, Netflix announced last month that it had signed a deal with Discovery Communications to bring programming from the company's many networks, including the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and TLC, to its streaming service.