Netflix: House of Cards stable as Dexter and Californication collapse

by Steven Mostyn - Mar 24 2011, 13:43

American broadcasting heavyweight CBS has today announced it is slimming down the amount of content offered to viewers through popular online streaming service Netflix.

According to CBS, its content agreement with Netflix will be renewed in the summer, as expected, but will be amended so as not to include major first-run Showtime cable properties such as Dexter and Californication.

The question remains as to whether or not the decision is a reaction to Netflix’s recent aggressive expansion into the cutthroat arena of original programming. We suspect it probably is.

Earlier this week, Netflix officially secured director David Fincher’s new political drama ‘House of Cards’ by committing to an exclusive two-season deal (26 episodes) rumoured to be worth in excess of $100 million USD.

As Netflix strives to alter its image from ‘online movie and TV rental service’ to something more akin to ‘online broadcaster of original content ’, it’s likely that more of its current deals will be scaled down or pulled completely.

Time Warner Inc. clearly views Netflix and its 20 million subscribers as a possible business threat and continues to withhold all of its much-coveted HBO programming from the streaming service’s virtual shelves.

The revised CBS deal will not affect Showtime content available through Netflix’s vast archive of DVD rentals.

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