Netflix licenses reruns from CW Network
The four-year deal gives Netflix access to 700 hours of the mostly youth-focused programming.
The CW Network series "The Vampire Diaries" is coming to Netflix's streaming library.
(Credit: CW Network)Netflix has licensed content from CBS and Time Warner's jointly operated CW Network, the companies announced today.
The agreement is for four years and gives Netflix the streaming rights to more than 700 hours of reruns of CW's youth-oriented shows, such as "The Secret Circle," "The Vampire Diaries," and "Gossip Girl."
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The deals are certainly not exclusive.
"These rights extend for four years after each series, current or future, ends its broadcast run on the network," the CW said in a statement. "CW content can also be made available via traditional syndication windows, electronic sell-through services and, on a partial-season basis, through authenticated cable providers."
Some shows, including previous seasons of "Vampire Diaries" and "Gossip Girl," will be available for streaming on Saturday. Reruns from other shows will begin trickling into Netflix's streaming library starting early next year. Episodes from shows airing this season will be available next fall.
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While Netflix continues to struggle to obtain stream licenses to popular films, the company has had better luck with TV shows.
Previously, Ted Sarandos, Netflix's content acquisition chief, told me that many TV series haven't fared well in traditional syndication. Viewers may miss a show, fall behind, and lose interest.
Netflix solves that problem by offering on-demand viewing. The CW's content will appeal to teens and twentysomethings, an important audience for Netflix as well as the TV networks.
"We have long admired the CW's ability to connect so passionately and directly with a very important and difficult-to-reach demographic," Sarandos said in a statement.
