Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) will lose approximately 2000 movies from its library in May. The movie library of the streaming company will have 1794 fewer titles, and this has been announced officially. However, this is not bad news when compared to the Great Netflix Starzageddon of 2012, which was all about the failure to renew streaming agreements that resulted in a loss of more than 1,000 films, including even the latest films in the Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) streaming catalog.
The situation differs this time as many movies are a decade old, including titles such as Caged Fury (starring Erik Estrada) and 1998’s Deep Impact. But there are movies like Cruel Intentions also in the list.
The reason these movies will be taken off the catalog is due to licensing issues. The titles for these movies are under the authority of Warner Bros., MGM and Universal. These movies can only be accessed through Warner Archive Instant service very soon, which is the less popular service compared to Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX). Under Warner, the user can get access to movies for $10 per month.
The loss of these titles may not come as a very strong setback for Netflix, but it surely gives an indication of future plans for Netflix. Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix announced this month plans to strike a broad television deal with Viacom Network. The deal implies that shows from Nickelodeon, MTV, VH1 and BET will no longer be available at the end of May.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) spokesman Joris Evers said that some users might not be happy with these decisions, but in the normal course these titles on Netflix come and go. The TV shows and movies are licensed by Netflix for a definite period of time. When there is a drop in the subscribers watching the show then the company decides not to renew the licenses. Netflix, according to Joris, targets to be a good programmer rather than a broad distributor.
Joris further said that the movies removed from Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) were part of a deal with Epix. He said that the greater number of titles being removed on Wednesday are outdated features. He said that Netflix has brought in number of new movies like ParaNorman (Universal), Hunger Games (Epix), Safe (Epix) and Bachelorette (Weinstein). It will also add MI2 along with other titles.
