The rivalry between Netflix and Amazon.com for online streaming content has been a boon to TV programmers, as the two are motivated buyers eager to one-up each other.
One week after Amazon.com touted PBS deal, Netflix is announcing an expansion of its multiyear pact with the pubcaster for a range of series and specials for streaming subscribers in the U.S. and Canada.
Netflix’s re-up includes two exclusive gets: Beginning this fall, streaming company will exclusively offer “The Bletchley Circle,” a British murder mystery miniseries produced by London-based World Prods. In 2014, Netflix will become the exclusive subscription video home of “Super Why!,” the PBS Kids preschool series aimed at helping tykes build literacy skills.
Amazon, for its part, is paying PBS for exclusive streaming rights starting later this year on all seasons of “Downton Abbey.”
Also continuing to be available on Netflix will be nonexclusive PBS content, including kidvids like “Wild Kratts,” “Caillou” and “Arthur”; Ken Burns docus including “Prohibition” and “Central Park Five“; and past seasons of nonfiction series including “Nova” and “Secrets of the Dead.”
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“PBS programming is both entertaining and enriching, a combination that Netflix members really appreciate,” Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said in a statement.
Added PBS Digital GM Jason Seiken, “While PBS stations will always be the first place to see our programming, this agreement with Netflix exposes our shows to new audiences and further expands PBS’s presence across all media platforms.”
Netflix has continued to aggressively acquire rights to popular network shows, announcing pact for “New Girl” past seasons this week with Twentieth Century Fox Television, and is dropping coin for originals like “Orange Is the New Black,” which it decided to bring back for sophomore season before the July 11 premiere.
