Netflix has signed a new licensing agreement with Disney-ABC, adding tons of new content to their Watch Instantly streaming service.
For the first time ever, Disney has added ABC Family content to the streaming library.
Newer first-run content will be available 15 days after initial telecast.
Part of the new agreement are “prior season episodes of current ABC hit series “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Desperate Housewives” and, for the first time on Netflix, “Brothers & Sisters.”
Furthermore, Netflix will have all seasons of “Scrubs,” “Lost,” Ugly Betty” and “Reaper.”
From the Disney Channel comes more episodes of “Phineas and Ferb,” “Good Luck Charlie,” “The Suite Life on Deck” and “Wizards of Waverly Place.”
Finally, from ABC Family comes the catalogs of “Greek,” “Make It or Break It,” “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” and “Melissa & Joey.”
Result for: catalogs
The New York Post has reported today that Netflix is prepared to pay up to $100,000 per episode for the ability to stream in-season TV shows, such as current episodes of hits like “Glee” and “The Office.”
If accurate, the move will position Netflix next to Hulu as the premier destination to view TV episodes from current running seasons.
In October, Netflix announced it had signed a deal with NBCU to bring full back catalogs of hit shows like “30 Rock,” “The Office,” and others to the streaming service, as well as a deal that gives Netflix the right to stream “Saturday Night Live” the day after it airs on TV.
Netflix recently began offering a streaming-only service for $8 per month in the U.S., the first time the company has offered a deal that does not include physical media rentals.
The company has spent close to $1 billion on streaming rights over the past years, placing a big bet on the future of streaming.
Result for: catalogs
Kazaa, one of the most notorious P2P software of yesteryear is set to make a comeback in 2009, this time as a legal subscription music service.
Sources speaking to Cnet say the rebirth could happen as soon as August and will turn the once infamous unauthorized downloading hub into a new subscription service with catalogs from the Big 4 labels.
Unlimited downloads will cost $20 USD a month and the store is expected to open with over a million tracks available.
Napster, the original file sharing site to feel the wrath of the record label, reopened as a legal music store in 2003.
