Lionsgate Exec Says MSOs ‘Still Important’
By | August 11, 2010
As we reported yesterday, Netflix and EPIX inked a five-year streaming content deal (reportedly worth nearly $1 billion) that could eat into premium-cable-programming revenues. However, top EPIX-partner brass says MSOs will continue to be supported.
During a conference call following the deal’s announcement, Lionsgate Co-Chair and CEO Jon Feltheimer reiterated his continued support and recognition of EPIX’s MSO partners, which include Charter, Cox and Mediacom. For example, creating the 90-day window (after which first-run features could be streamed to Netflix viewers) “was very important to us in terms of protecting our traditional MSO partners, and so we really see this as a win-win for everybody,” he said.
“The traditional MSOs have the product earlier… and will be selling it as an EPIX product, a very specifically branded offering,” he added. Netflix will not use the EPIX name in featuring related content, and Feltheimer said the partners “worked closely” with both existing and potential MSO partners in creating the new window.