Recently we brought you the sad news that at some point this summer, Showtime would cease allowing Netflix users to stream seasons of stuff that’s still running like “Dexter.” Fortunately, the ballers at Netflix have stepped up and added a little something else to their repertoire: “Mad Men.”
That’s right, kids — pretty soon, you’ll be roaming the hillsides of television’s best show (it’s an argument I’m willing to have) on your Blu-Ray, your Wii, your Xbox, or whatever device gets you to where you can watch Netflix.
According to the Wall St. Journal, Netflix is paying Lions Gate Entertainment Corp, the company that produces “Mad Men,” between $75 and $100 million for the rights to stream the popular AMC show.
To do some quick math for you, based on the fact that there are 13 episodes in an season and Netflix has reportedly signed on for seven seasons, Netflix is coughing up almost a cool $1 million per.
But it’s probably worth it for them, because who wouldn’t rather pay $8.99 or whatever a month for the option to watch “Mad Men” whenever you want, versus paying ~$50 per season? Answer: No one. (Well, except for the jerks like me who already own all the seasons on DVD. GRR.)
This doesn’t mean when “Mad Men” returns live that folks will be able to stream the series, however. You’ll have to wait until the end of each season, and can then watch them via Netflix. That’s not exactly a bad thing, especially if you haven’t seen the first few seasons yet; no real rush there, right?
More good news on the Netflix front, too, as in the same article from the WSJ, the company is reportedly working on securing the rights to NBC’s content (or Comcast’s NBCUniversal’s content, I suppose).
Look, it’s a war out there in streaming land — Blockbuster just got purchased by Dish Network! — and it’s only going to get hairier as more and more people stop using stupid things like “DVD’s.” But that can end up meaning some pretty nice things for the consumer, because as exclusive as some of these deals may be, the competition will inherently push down prices.
Netflix to Stream ‘Mad Men’ — [WSJ]