Netflix keeps eyes on wider library with extended CBS pact
In the latest stage in their content arms race, Netflix extends its agreement for classic and recent CBS shows, after Amazon Prime starts streaming "Under the Dome" episodes soon after they air.
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Netflix will keep getting CBS shows, and start getting new ones. They're just not brand new.
The online streaming video site and CBS, the parent company of CNET, extended their multiyear licensing agreement for select library content. The revised deal adds titles like "L.A. Complex," "4400," and "CSI: NY" to its current stock already available for streaming on Netflix, a mix of classic programs like "Star Trek" and "Twin Peaks" and more recent titles like "Jericho" and "Medium."
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos indicated this update agreement left the door open for more. "We look forward to adding even more high-profile titles from CBS in the near future," he said.
Amazon just started streaming one high-profile CBS program, an exclusive. Last month, current, in-season episodes of "Under the Dome," based on Stephen King's popular novel, became available to Prime Instant Video customers four days after they air on television. The deal with CBS, struck earlier this year, made Amazon the only online streaming service to get those rights.
It followed an agreement with the online retailer in July of last year for 18 CBS series like "Star Trek," "Cheers" and "The Tudors" for its Prime Instant Video customers.
The two streaming competitors have been volleying licensing announcements back and forth. Last week, PBS was the source of the one-upmanship, and earlier this year, it was Viacom kids favorites.
While both are vying for exclusives and edgy originals to draw in new subscribers and retain the ones they have, Netflix has been the trailblazer on the latter, while Amazon has taken the upper hand getting exclusives for wildly popular programs like "Downton Abbey."