Sony Movies Pulled From Netflix Streaming Service Over Starz Contract Issue

(RYAN NAKASHIMA, AP/THE HUFFINGTON POST) LOS ANGELES -- Sony movies were pulled from Netflix Inc.'s online streaming service Friday because of what Netflix said is a "temporary contract issue" between Sony Corp. and its pay TV distributor, Starz.

Netflix notified its members in a blog post on Friday, when movies such as "Easy A" and "Grown Ups" stopped being available on its "Watch Instantly" service. They are still available to be rented as DVDs through the mail.

Starz said in a statement that "all parties are working diligently to resolve the issue."

A person familiar with the matter said Netflix's explosive subscriber growth triggered a clause in Sony's agreement with Starz that resulted in the stoppage. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.

Netflix has said that it ended March with 23.6 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada.

The temporary outage comes at a time when Starz is doing its best to show Netflix how much customers appreciate being able to watch movies from its studio partners, Sony and The Walt Disney Co., over the Internet.

Netflix' ability to stream Disney and Sony movies aided its spectacular growth, but its deal with Starz is up next year.

Analysts expect Netflix to pay handsomely to renew the deal. Earlier this month, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said it "wouldn't be shocking" if Netflix paid more than $200 million per year for Starz' service, far more than the estimated $30 million a year it is paying currently.

Comments

[drp103]

06:18 PM on 06/20/2011

The world will not end if Netflix loses some movies.

[DLee4144]

12:34 PM on 06/20/2011

Netflix is the best entertainment value on earth. Under $10 to watch thousands of choices whenever you want. I just wish they would stream everything and drop the mailing stuff to you. I don't want the bother of mailing it back and forth, and I like deciding what I want to watch when I get ready to sit down and watch it.

[dmuffman41]

09:58 PM on 07/12/2011

Except that a large portion of sreamed movies are not subtitled or closed captioned. For thr hearing impaired ordering DVD thru the mail is our only option., AKA getting the short end of the stick

[portabello]

10:07 AM on 06/20/2011

"Site Pulls More Movies From Streaming Service"

More movies? What other movies has Netflix pulled, you make it sound like a trend?

How much AOL stock does Sony own, for goodness sake?

[Jackamus]

06:00 AM on 06/20/2011

All these studios just want to destroy netflix.

[jS45]

06:00 AM on 06/20/2011

I just watched "Easy A" like two weeks ago. Glad I saw it when I could, it was awesome. :P I hope this is resolved soon. I haven't checked yet to see if anything is missing from my queue.

[clsmithj]

05:12 AM on 06/20/2011

I never knew Sony owned Starz

[portabello]

10:08 AM on 06/20/2011

I know! I'll never watch Starz again, I stopped buying Sony products a decade ago.

[Proletarian101]

11:25 AM on 06/20/2011

Sony doesn't own Starz.

[SitandStay]

05:00 AM on 06/20/2011

Don't have cable or satellite. Too expensive. Love our NetFlix streaming. Have never had a problem.
Watch lots of independent flicks and some other stuff.
A great value! unheard of in this day and age of greed.

[AlexLiveFree]

02:04 AM on 06/20/2011

What Sony is doing is driving people from Netflix to piracy.

[portabello]

10:09 AM on 06/20/2011

Netflix should just dump Sony. I have Starz on my cable and never watch it.

Netflix, please don't waster your money on Sony, buy some more original programming!

[luckybear]

01:43 AM on 06/20/2011

Netflix rules. I wish I had bought their stock back when I saw their fliers at Bestbuy.

[johnmorgan]

11:42 PM on 06/19/2011

Sunday evening 6-19-2011: Now the Netflix website is down altogether!

[MissFrijole]

11:07 AM on 06/20/2011

Yup. I had that too.

[KayDGee]

11:26 PM on 06/19/2011

SONY execs need a dose of maturity... This knd of power play could become another Beta format style heads-I-win-tails-you-lose meltdown.

[Rynox]

11:13 PM on 06/19/2011

I've watched so many foreign movies in the past few months. I've been amazed at the quality and entertainment value of these foreign films. Everything from French, Japanese, to English-speaking movies from the UK & Australia. That's the best part of Netflix, imo.

[LI2USsomemore]

11:17 PM on 06/19/2011

You may like, "The King of Masks." One of my favorites. :-)

[Rynox]

09:27 AM on 06/23/2011

Grazie.

I'll recommend 'This is England' to you.

[FieroPaisan]

10:47 PM on 06/19/2011

Netflix is now down today in my area. Coincidence? I think not. I'll bet the service is being hacked as I write this. How's that for a HuffPost scoop? What standard cable/TV media still fails to realize is that no matter how much ageist Gen XYZ dreck they try to shove down our throats, by blocking access to quality old school entertainment web venues like Netflix, they further entrench the tastes and preferences of mature audiences into ignoring almost anything and everything new. If they want to compete against the classics or the good old days, then they will have to purge the current Hollywood system with its social agendas and bohemian nepotism and start making better TV shows and movies. Until then, Netflix will be our best option. And you can withhold content or hack them, but other sites will pop up the pirates will take over.

[johnjam101]

10:40 PM on 06/19/2011

Hey, stop complaining.
NETFLIX seems like a pretty good deal.

[Rynox]

11:11 PM on 06/19/2011

Netflix.com is currently not responding. So, I'm basically paying for nothing right now. Not a good deal, currently.

[kinogod]

10:00 PM on 06/19/2011

The model Netflix is ultimately working toward is similar to cable movies on demand and iTunes. The $9 stream all you want will become an entry level Netflix buy in with older titles, then there will be tiers going all the way up to cable prices and ultimately newer movies on demand like iTunes. The idea is just moving content choices away from the cable content manager and into the hands of the consumer. Prices canbe expected to rise exponentially, just you watch. Original series/movie content from netflix will then be offered just like HBO. This is the future. Netflix already is the iCloud.

[LouisvilleLiberal]

12:43 AM on 06/20/2011

Or...prices will drop. Competition usually pushes prices down - not up.

[EdgarAllen]

03:31 AM on 06/20/2011

Except that NetFlix doesn't own or create most of the content, they ultimately don't get to chose what to charge. DirectTv is the same. They keep having to raise rate to keep channels that raise theirs.