Starz has apparently decided it may live without the masses of millions of bucks a renewal of its content licensing address Netflix was expected to bring and announced an end to negotiations today. Consistent with the corporate Town blog, talks broke down over Starz’s insistence that Netflix implement tiered pricing, and charge customers much more for access to its content. That suggests when the current deal expires on February 28, 2012, they’ll all leave, including a variety of its newer release flicks from Sony (already pulled ) and Disney that Starz has exclusive licenses to and Starz content like Camelot and Spartacus. To make matters worse, all of this is often happening an identical day as a value hike makes it dearer to maintain both disc and streaming services.
While Starz claims the move is part of its technique to “protect the premium nature of our brand by preserving the proper pricing and packaging of our exclusive and highly valuable content” in addition “evaluate new opportunities”, Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey is quoted as saying it may well redirect the Starz money to deals with other content providers to “maintain or maybe improve the Netflix experience.” Beyond Starz, within the US Netflix also has access to newer movies from its deals with Epix and some smaller distributors like Relativity Media . Check Starz’s statement in full after the break, and tell us if here’s changing your answer to yesterday’s poll question .
STARZ ENTERTAINMENT LOGO Starz logo (PRNewsFoto/Starz Entertainment) ENGLEWOOD, CO UNITED STATES
ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Sept. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Starz, LLC, President and Chief Executive Officer, Chris Albrecht, issued here statement today concerning the status of affiliation agreement renewal discussions with Netflix.
“Starz Entertainment has ended contract renewal negotiations with Netflix. When the agreement expires on February 28, 2012, Starz will cease to distribute its content at the Netflix streaming platform. This decision is end result of the our approach to protect the premium nature of our brand by preserving the correct pricing and packaging of our exclusive and highly valuable content. With our current studio rights and growing original programming presence, the network is in an amazing position to guage new opportunities and expand its overall business.”
About Starz Entertainment
Starz Entertainment, LLC, is a premium movie and original programming entertainment agency operating within the U . s . a .. The corporate offers 17 premium channels including the flagship STARZ® and ENCORE® brands with approximately 19 million and 32.9 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs in total greater than 1,000 movies and original series each month across its pay TV channels. Starz Entertainment is recognized as a pay TV leader in providing HD, On Demand, HD On Demand and online advanced services for its STARZ, ENCORE and MOVIEPLEX brands. Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, that’s a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation and is attributed to the freedom Starz tracking stock group (NASDAQ: LSTZA).
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