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Tag: Epix

  • Netflix Lets Epix Deal Expire As Hulu Enters Multi-Year Agreement

    Netflix Lets Epix Deal Expire As Hulu Enters Multi-Year Agreement

    Netflix announced that it has decided not to renew an agreement in the US with cable network Epix, which means it is dropping a bunch of big-name movies from its offering. Hulu is picking up where Netflix left off, announcing a multi-year deal with the channel.

    Netflix, anticipating user frustration, put out a blog post explaining its reasoning, and what it boils down to is basically a focus on putting out content that is exclusive to Netflix, and that includes “a robust slate of original movies” from stars and directors like Brad Pitt, Ricky Gervais, Judd Apatow, Angelina Jolie, Sofia Coppola, and Adam Sandler.

    The movies from the Epix deal will expire on Netflix at the end of September. These include titles like Hunger Games: Catching Fire, World War Z, and Transformers: Age of Extinction. Read this for titles Netflix is adding and dropping in September.

    “While many of these movies are popular, they are also widely available on cable and other subscription platforms at the same time as they are on Netflix and subject to the same drawn out licensing period,” writes Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos. “Through our original films and some innovative licensing arrangements with the movie studios, we are aiming to build a better movie experience for you.”

    Netlix’s slate of original movies includes: Beasts of No Nation (October), Ridiculous Six (December), A Very Murray Christmas (December), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Green Legend (Early 2016), and Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday (Early 2016).

    “We also have some great family films coming your way, including Minions, Hotel Transylvania 2, and Home through arrangements with Sony Pictures Animation, Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation,” Sarandos says. “Starting next year, we will be the exclusive US pay TV home of the latest theatrical movies from the The Walt Disney Company, including Pixar, Lucasfilm and Marvel movies. The majority of these films will arrive on Netflix faster than traditional arrangements had previously allowed.”

    That’s pretty huge.

    Hulu’s deal will see the service adding new releases from Lionsgate, MGM, and Paramount beginning October 1. At launch, it will include Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Trek: Into Darkness, World War Z, Wolf of Wall Street, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Robocop, and God’s Not Dead. Read Hulu’s announcement for additional titles that it will get.

    “Hulu already offers some of the best and biggest titles in television programming, but our subscribers have been asking us for more, and more recent, big movies. We listened. Through this new deal with Epix, we are proud to now be able to offer a huge selection of the biggest blockbusters and premium films,” said Craig Erwich, SVP, Head of Content at Hulu. “This is a landmark deal for Hulu and it marks a huge expansion for our offering of premium programming.”

    “Hulu has become one of the most popular premium streaming services and Epix’s agreement is evidence of their understanding of the value that our blockbuster Hollywood films, deep library of classic film titles and original programming brings to consumers,” said Mark Greenberg, President and CEO of Epix. “We are excited to be partnering with Hulu, and share their commitment to providing viewers a truly premium experience, particularly as we enter the next phase of our network’s growth and development.”

    Hulu will continue to roll out new titles, library films, and original programming from Epix through each year of the deal. All new theatrical releases and original programming will be available during its digital streaming window, which begins 90 days after the start of the traditional pay TV window.

    Image via Netflix

  • PlayStation Network to Get Epix App

    Sony today announced that content from video-on-demand service Epix will soon be added to the PlayStation Network. The deal between Sony and Epix will add over 3,000 new movies, concerts, and sports programming to the library of titles available to PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita owners in the U.S. Epix subscribers will be able to use an Epix app to stream content through their Sony devices.

    Epix is a joint venture between Viacom, MGM, and Lionsgate. In addition to its on-demand offerings, which are available on many cable and satellite services, as well as online and through mobile apps, the Epix premium TV channel broadcasts content that includes movies, boxing, and mixed martial arts events.

    Epix had long had a deal with Netflix to provide its content over the service’s Watch Instantly streaming service. However, Epix ended its relationship with Netflix in September 2012, signing with Amazon to bring movies such as The Hunger Games to Amazon Instant Video. The PlayStation 3 already features an Amazon Instant Video app, meaning many of the same titles will be found on both services.

    Sony has stated that the new Epix app will be launching on the PlayStation 3 sometime “this quarter,” and an app for the Vita will be coming “later in the spring.”

  • Amazon Adds Thousands of Titles to Prime Instant Video through EPIX Deal

    Amazon Adds Thousands of Titles to Prime Instant Video through EPIX Deal

    Another week, another announcement from Amazon that they’ve beefed up the content offerings on their Prime Instant video service.

    Today the company has announced an agreement with EPIX, the premium on-demand service that’s a joint venture between Viacom (Paramount), MGM, and Lionsgate. This deal will bring the total amount of movies and TV episodes available on the service to well over 25,000. Amazon says that’s double the titles available when they launched the Kindle Fire last September.

    Here are some of the movies that are coming along with the EPIX deal:

    The Avengers, Iron Man 2, The Hunger Games, Transformers Dark of the Moon, Thor, Rango, Kick Ass, Paranormal Activity 2, True Grit, The Lincoln Lawyer, and Justin Bieber Never Say Never. The EPIX deal will also bring original content like Kevin Smith: Burn in Hell and Usher: Live from London.

    “We are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to expand the Prime Instant Video library for our customers. We have now more than doubled this selection of movies and TV episodes to over 25,000 titles in just under a year,” said Bill Carr, Vice President of Video and Music at Amazon. “We are thrilled to be able to offer our customers such popular EPIX titles, many of which were just recently in theaters. We can tell from the data that our customers love watching movies on Prime Instant Video. We think customers will really enjoy watching new titles like The Avengers, Iron Man 2 and The Hunger Games on their Kindle Fire, PlayStation 3, Xbox, iPad or any of the other of the Amazon Instant Video compatible devices.”

    In the last couple of weeks, Amazon has announced deals with ESPN and NBCUniversal that will bring content like the 30 for 30 docu-series as well as TV dramas like Battlestar Galactica and Heroes to the streaming library.

    And just last week, Amazon dropped some promotional figures for the Prime Instant Video service. One of those statistics said that there we just over 22,000 Prime streaming titles available to subscribers. That means that this EPIX deal boosted the available content by at least a few thousand titles.

  • mSpot: That Netflix/Epix Deal? We Get Those Movies 6 Months Earlier

    You may have read that Netflix announced a new deal with Epix worth $1 billion. mSpot has taken the opportunity to point out that they get movies much sooner than Netflix’s streaming service does, most likely including many of the same titles.

    The deal gives Netflix Epix movies, which include titles from Lionsgate, Paramount, and MGM. mSpot says it has deals in place with Lionsgate, Disney, Warner, Paramount and others. mSpot says what Netflix is paying a billion dollars for, they are getting six months earlier.

    A representative for the company provided this little timeline:

    1. Theatrical release: aka, "in theaters now"

    2. DVD release: this usually starts 3-4 months after theaters

    3. VOD: 3 months after DVD release – AVAILABLE ON MSPOT

    4. Pay TV: 6 months after DVD (HBO, Starz, Epix, etc.)

    5. Free TV: 9 months after DVD (TNT, NBC, etc.) – AVAILABLE ON NETFLIX

    "A growing trend with studios including Warner and Paramount is to release ‘day and date’ movies as VOD, meaning that mSpot is getting many of the movies at the same time as the DVD release," the rep says. "The incentive for the movie studios to do this is that they get higher revenue shares from ‘day and date’ than VOD."

    mSpot Movies - Stream to iPad, iPhone

    What mSpot doesn’t have, however, is an actual DVD-by-mail service, which Netflix is obviously known for first and foremost. Netflix users have basically received acess to its streaming catalogue as an added bonus, rather than having to pay for these movies like with some of their competitors.

    Last month, mSpot, also known for its free (up to 2GB) music storage/streaming service, launched mSpotMovies for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, which lets users stream movies from these devices. Mobile users are still waiting for such apps from Netflix (though they will almost certainly be here at some point). mSpot users can rent movies for $2.99 – $3.99.

  • Netflix Enters Deal with Epix to Stream More New Releases

    Netflix has entered a new deal with Epix, through which it will let Netflix users instantly watch new releases and library titles from Epix. The movies will begin streaming on September 1, and include content from Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM.

    Epic has subscription pay TV rights to new releases and movies from its partners’ libraries, and Netflix will have access to them 90 days after their premium pay TV and subscription on demand debuts. According to Epix, distribution rights to these films are usually pre-sold to pay TV for as long as 9 years after their theatrical release.

    Epix"Adding EPIX to our growing library of streaming content, as the exclusive Internet-only distributor of this great content, marks the continued emergence of Netflix as a leader in entertainment delivered over the Web," said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix. "The EPIX deal is an example of the innovative ways in which we’re partnering with major content providers to broaden the scope and freshness of choices available to our members to watch instantly over the Internet.”

    Mark Greenberg, president of EPIX, added,  "Netflix is an incredibly popular service and we welcome them as our newest distribution partner. We are pleased to be able to continue our mission of bringing consumers the movies where they want to watch them, while satisfying the differing needs of cable, telco and satellite operators. This deal also underscores the tremendous value of our offerings in the marketplace."

    The more deals like this Netflix is able to make, the better it will do against the increasing amount of competition it faces. Netflix already has a similar deal in place with Starz.