Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is supposed to have signed what could be the biggest subscribtion video on demand deal for a TV series. A post on the Deadline.com revealed that Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) has perhaps paid $2 million for each episode for acquiring the rights of NBC’s hit drama, ‘The Blacklist’ from Sony Pictures. Netflix is expected to launch the series next weekend for its subscribers.
Sony Pictures is believed to have been looking to sell the rights for the series since March of this year. Whereas other major players on the streaming market Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Hulu look for doing joint syndication deals with TV networks, Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) has been known for getting deals in which it receives the right to stream a series first, before the content can be used by any other service. A testament to that is the recent deal between Twentieth Television, and MTV-TVS combined, in which the former sold rights to the series New Girl to the latter for $0.9 million per episode, one year after the series had premiered on Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX).
Before this $2 million deal for each episode of The Blacklist, the title holder for the maximum amount paid per episode for a TV series was AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’, which was again bought by Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) for $1.35 million per episode.
Sony TV has a long association with Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), it was perhaps the first studio that saw real potential in Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX). Their relationship was cemented when Sony TV sold the rights for AMC’S ‘Breaking Bad’ in one of the early series deal between a studio and a streaming service. ‘Breaking Bad’ went on to become one of Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)’s massive hits. The show was so successful that it is actually credited for starting the phenomena of ‘binge viewing’. It has been reported that there has already been a deal between Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Sony TV for streaming Breaking Bad’s prequel comedy ‘Better Call Saul’ on Netflix.
As of June 30, 2014, Carl Icahn‘s Icahn Capital LP owns more than 1.7 million shares in Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX).
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