M+E Daily
Fox, Universal Cut 28-Day Deals With Netflix
Story Highlights
Netflix announced agreements with the home entertainment units of Twentieth Century Fox and Universal Studios, in which the service forgoes renting new-release movies from the studios for 28 days in exchange for expanded streaming video licenses.
Among the titles that the studios hope will benefit from the creation of a four-week sales window are Fox’s “Avatar” (released April 22) and Universal’s “It’s Complicated” (in stores April 27).
Through the expanded streaming licenses, Netflix gains Universal titles such as “Gosford Park” and Fox catalog films, along with complete prior seasons of several Fox television series such as “24” and “Bones.”
The new agreements follow Netflix’s first 28-day deal with Warner Home Video, which went into effect in March. There has been little subscriber outcry over the four-week wait to rent Warner’s “The Blind Side” and other new releases.
Meanwhile, Netflix’s stock price was hovering above $80 a share this morning, as investors continue to be wowed by the company’s April 3 introduction of a streaming video app for Apple’s iPad. The stock sold this week for as high as $83.97 a share; current earnings per share are $1.98.
Indeed, Netflix seems to have given up little, if any, brand equity on Wall Street with its delayed DVD acccess deals. “Netflix is a cult stock,” analyst Jim Cramer wrote in a recent blog post. “This stock is loved, and the product is loved, and I cannot countenance selling it even at 31 times next year’s earnings.”
