Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums banner

Netflix announces many new additions to catalog (Dec 13th)

Tags
netflix
10K views 26 replies 20 participants last post by  bouche 
#1 ·
Netflix said today that it has entered into a number of new licensing agreements with a range of leading content providers that will add hundreds of new titles to its catalog of movie and television titles.

The company says some of the new titles are available now and others will be made available over the next few weeks.

The following is sample of some of the new titles available in Canada.

  • Seasons 1 and 2 of the television series “Weeds,” which follows a single mom (Mary-Louise Parker) as she progresses from a small town pot dealer to a big time player in the drug trade, from Maple Pictures; season 1 of Sony’s “The Big C,” which tells the story of a suburban mom, diagnosed with cancer, who tries to find humor in the disease; and season 1 of the Emmy-nominated television series “Undercover Boss,” which follows senior executives working undercover in their own firms to investigate the inner workings of the companies, distributed by New Video for All3Media International.
  • Seasons 1 through 4 of the TV series “The Tudors,” starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers as King Henry the 8th; season 1 of the popular Canadian television show “Men with Brooms,” an offbeat comedy that follows a reunited curling team from a small Canadian town; and seasons 1 and 2 of “Republic of Doyle,” the Canadian comedy-drama that follows a father and son duo who partner as private investigators. Season 2 of “Republic of Doyle” will be available from Netflix the day after episodes air on the CBC in Canada. All of these shows are being licensed from the CBC.

  • “Best of” episodes and the last two complete seasons of Global TV’s “Saturday Night Live,” and seasons 1 through 5 of the Canadian comedy show “The Kids in the Hall.”

  • Seasons 1 and 2 of “Merlin,” which tells the story of the young wizard Merlin and the future king, Prince Arthur - available in the first half of 2011, and seasons 1 and 2 of “Pulling” the popular comedy that follows the lives of three single females living in London, all from FremantleMedia Enterprises.
 
See less See more
#5 ·
Netflix US tried to get HBO programming but was turned away by HBO.
That's OK, I can get it from the local library for free (also TMN for now.)

It makes sense for Netflix to obtain Canadian content for their Canadian service. I've got to wonder if they know how many Canadians dislike Cancon and prefer US content?
 
#6 ·
It makes sense for Netflix to obtain Canadian content for their Canadian service.
It makes sense in the sense Shaw complained openly a cpl days ago about them having to buy Cancon but Netflix doesn't. I suppose this'll help hedge that off but if I was them I wish they would have held off and used cancon as a carrot to be excluded from bandwidth caps or atleast for customers to be charged a reasonable rate for overages.

I've got to wonder if they know how many Canadians dislike Cancon and prefer US content?
It's not just US - the UK and even Australia has some excellent stuff. It's like with some rare exceptions that slip through the cracks they try to make programming we won't like.
 
#7 ·
I was surprised at what Netflix was adding. I'll state the obvious, if you want HBO shows then subscribe to HBO. The Wire is also available on DVD.
 
#8 ·
Virtually all HBO produced shows are available on DVD about a year after they debut on TV. Between Zip and the local library, they can be watched at a very reasonable cost.
 
#9 ·
I am currently watching

season 1 of Sony’s “The Big C,” which tells the story of a suburban mom, diagnosed with cancer, who tries to find humor in the disease
from SuperChannel.

I was surprised to see it on Netflix.
 
#12 ·
Good point. I guess that's another example of Netflix starting to play the Canadian TV game instead of importing the US model and buying the Canadian online rights directly from NBCU.
 
#14 ·
Global has to license it in Canada because they probably have the sole internet broadcasting rights which they would receive as part of their licensing of SNL for television broadcast.

I've seen this gripe a lot about netflix and I'm not sure what people expect them to do, the properties aren't always owned by the same companies north and south of the border and the Canadian companies sometimes have a vested interest in not making the content available outside of the traditional broadcast system.

Jeremy Clarkson had a great writeup about this in his newspaper column responding to people who complain about the BBC not just broadcasting Top Gear online for the whole world. Unfortunately I think it's behind the Murdock paywall now as I couldn't find it again to link it directly.
 
#15 ·
^
I understand Global likely has the broadcast rights but there's nothing saying, either now or when contract renewals are up in the US, Netflix couldn't persuade NBCU to duel licence the rights or get them as an exclusive anf cut Global out.

In the US Netflix has the rights to shows for the last few decades - but we get best of's?

It's that type of inferior service that'll make me consider if I want Netflix or not.

For NBCU or BBC it's usually the networks themselves that decide to put up these walls - they rarely exist in DVD for example.
 
#16 ·
just signed up for the free month after browsing the very thin library i was sure to put a reminder on my calendar to cancel my membership within the next 30 days :(
 
#17 ·
Still a very weak selection. There really isnt even enough to make me bother using the free month. Sure there are 2 or 3 movies that I am mildy interested in, but not worth the hassle of having to end my subscription next month.

I really love the idea of Netflix, but until they have a selection of movies at least as current as what TMN/HBO would show, then it's really not worth it IMO. Any movies that are available here tend to be ones that I have never heard of or ones that I couldnt be bothered to watch in the theatres, DVD/PPV, or TMN.
 
#22 ·
I've seen titles dissappear on the US service. The way you notice it is when they're in your instant queue and then it moves them down to the bottom where they can no longer play. However there's no instant queue with Netflix Canada so I would imagine it's pretty hard to notice if titles are removed.

Since the service is new in Canada, I would speculate that the contracts they are signing are for more than just for a few months. Probably 1-2 years with the content providers. So what you're describing is a risk but I don't think we'll be in that situation for probably over a year from now. Especially for the Tudors since the CBC deal was just reached last month.
 
#23 ·
To follow-up North Of Calgary's last post, you can head to instantwatcher.com and search for a title. The detail page of the movie/show will list the expiry date.

Word of caution. The dates are most likely for the US rights, Canada may very well be different. The other thing to note is while some videos will expire I imagine most are renewed near the end date listed on that site.
 
#25 ·
What is bound to hurt Netflix in Canada is the bandwidth limit imposed by Shaw, Rogers, Bell and Primus.
Fortunately Telus does not have bandwidth limits, and according to a news story last week they do not intend to impose any limits. To loosly quote the spokesman that was on the CTV news, he said that Telus has invested billions over the past 2 years to add incredible amounts of bandwidth, which the other providers just do not have. So with the others resorting to throttling, and caps, it is just not necessary on the Telus network.
He went on to say that in the early days of the internet, most people primarly used it to move email, and now they use it to move movies.

I have had Netflix for the past few months, and have enjoyed it for trying out movies that I would never have rented in a million years, and I have descovered a few gems that I would have never seen if it hadn't been for netflix. I just hope they continue to add content.
 
#27 ·
Does anyone think that package shaping could affect Netflix performance since it probably affects PPV and channel package sales with the cable companies? If canada allows package shaping....like IP's can do to limit torrents, why can't they limit Netflix bandwidth? And who will stop them?

love my Netflix! great additions this month too.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top