I don’t know about the rest of you, but I hardly get any dvds from Netflix anymore. Maybe one or two a month, and that’s it- the rest of the dozens of films I watch come from watching their ever-impressive Instant selection. Netflix realizes this and wants us to keep it up- after all, shooting movies directly into your home is cheaper than spending money on discs and postage.
Now there’s going to be even less of a reason to wait on discs, as Netflix has just reached a five-year deal to stream movies from Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM.
Many of their films (including new releases) will premiere on Netflix 90 days after on-demand services, through Paramount’s new Epix pay TV channel. Netflix said that previously these rights to distribute films are pre-sold to pay TV for up to nine years after a movie’s theatrical release. The deal means it can add many more popular movies from major studios.
This is similar to what Netflix already has with Starz, although hopefully the quality of the films will be superior, as those Starz films are pretty muddy-looking (and where’s our 5.1 surround sound, damn it?)
Check Yahoo for more details, and prepare to never leave your couch.