All eyes are on Amazon right now, following yesterday’s launch of unlimited movie streaming for Amazon Prime subscribers. Netflix and its competing Watch Instantly service is looking to steal some of that thunder, however. The streaming content provider and DVD/Blu-ray rental service announced a new partnership with CBS yesterday which will add a range of the network’s most popular TV series’ from yesterday and today to the Watch Instantly selection, according to a press release.
The highlight for many will likely be Star Trek in its various televised incarnations, though there’s been no announcement from Netflix yet as to how the vast science fiction series’ library will be rolled out. The deal also includes a number of other series’, from the more recent Medium and Flashpoint to classics like Cheers, Frasier, Family Ties, Twin Peaks, The Andy Griffith Show and The Twilight Zone. Hopefully Survivor fans will be getting some love as well. Look for the CBS content to start appearing in early April.
The non-exclusive deal will run for two years, with CBS having the option to renew for another two years. It’s a big move for the network, which has been pretty quiet in the content streaming space. Individual series’ can be viewed online, but CBS has not joined competitor network NBC, ABC or Fox in joining the Hulu parade. Network CEO Les Moonves said last year that the dollars and sense weren’t right for a CBS partnership with Hulu, though such a deal is certainly still a possibility with the non-exclusivity in the Netflix deal.
