Netflix streaming deal with Starz ends
The movie channel announced last September that its titles wouldn't be available for Netflix streaming, and now that end day has finally come.
Goodbye "Scarface" streaming on Netflix. Goodbye streaming of "Young Frankenstein," "Toy Story 3," "Big Trouble in Little China," "Beetlejuice," "Gangs of New York," and many more.
Netflix's 4-year contract with Starz ended as of yesterday, meaning that streaming of all of Starz's movies has ceased. According to CNNMoney, Starz content accounted for 2 percent of users viewing time.
Starz announced that it would end its streaming deal with Netflix last September. In a statement, the company wrote, "This decision is a result of our strategy to protect the premium nature of our brand by preserving the appropriate pricing and packaging of our exclusive and highly valuable content."
The movie channel also implied that it was looking to grow, writing, "With our current studio rights and growing original programming presence, the network is in an excellent position to evaluate new opportunities and expand its overall business."
The loss of these titles is a big blow to Netflix because Starz also owns the Internet rights to many movies from Disney and Sony Pictures. According to CNNMoney, Netflix would not confirm exactly how many titles were pulled but that the company may be able to get some of them back by negotiating separate deals with other cable networks."There's always an ebb and flow of title availability, and there always will be," Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey told CNNMoney. "There's never a shortage of stuff. You'll see more titles soon."