Netflix already has a formidable line-up of exclusive content ready to unleash when it launches in Australia and New Zealand on March 24- and more is it come.
The third series of Orange is the New Black, a Netflix production, will screen on the subscription VOD service after it premieres on Foxtel’s showcase in June.
Moreover, the US streaming giant is working on deals with MGM and Warner Bros which would mean their first-run movies will debut on Netflix at the same time as their pay-TV premieres on Foxtel Movies.
Neither has been signed but IF understands the MGM arrangement is in final negotiations and WB is highly likely to pact with Netflix as its output deal with the Nine Network, worth a reported $150 million a year, has expired, and the studio needs to generate more revenue from its pay-TV and free-TV deals.
Netflix boasts an array of original series including House of Cards; Marco Polo, an historical epic which follows the famed traveller (Italian newcomer Lorenzo Richelmy) as he is sold into the court of Kublai Khan; animated comedy Bojack Horseman with Will Arnett voicing a failed legendary 90's sitcom star; and the thrillers Between, Bloodline and Andy and Lana Wachowski's Sense8.
The line-up also includes Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, a sitcom co-created by Tina Fey; Marvel’s Daredevil with Charlie Cox as a lawyer by day and super hero Daredevil by night in New York's Hell's Kitchen; DreamWorks Animation’s The Adventures of Puss in Boots and All Hail King Julien; and Grace and Frankie, a comedy starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston.
Among the documentaries are Virunga, Orlando von Einsiedel’s Academy-Award nominated film which looks at rangers fighting to protect the world's last mountain gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and Mission Blue, oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle’s wakeup call to save the world’s seas.
An IF analysis of the exclusive and non-exclusive film and TV programming on SVOD rivals Netflix, Stan and Presto TV/Presto Movies shows Netflix has the biggest volume of exclusive content.
Doubtless Stan and the Prestos will announce more acquisitions in the coming weeks and months- but so will Netflix, which last month announced it is raising $US1.5 billion in additional long-term debt to fund content acquisitions and for general purposes.
Some analysts believe that a market of Australia’s size can support only two SVOD platforms, which means that one of Netflix, Stan or Presto may not have a long future. Who would bet against Netflix?
As for Quickflix, it made a net loss of $8.6 million in the six months to December 31, more than twice the $4.2 million loss a year earlier, and it had 117,000 paying customers, down from 123,000 at the end of June.
SBS MD Michael Ebeid doubts the new platforms will have any discernible impact on traditional TV. “I think that SVOD will take a little longer to take off in Australia, compared to the United States, where 80 per cent of people have cable and are used to paying for content,“ said Ebeid, who has licensed World Movies content to Stan.
“In Australia less than 30 per cent of us have Foxtel – we’re not as used to paying for content here. So I believe it will be a slower build here than in the US – which is at 30-35 per cent penetration after a few years.
“Deloitte predicts that SVOD will 'complement, rather than crush, traditional TV operators.' I certainly agree with that, and not the reports out there predicting 'TV is dead.'''
SVOD platforms- who owns what
Netflix
Exclusive: Netflix originals including House of Cards, Grace and Frankie, Marco Polo, Between, Bloodline, Longmire, Love, Marvel’s Daredevil, Narcos, Sense8, sitcom Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Wet Hot American Summer: First Day At Camp; first-run films from Walt Disney Co.; ABC’s Jonah from Tonga and Serangoon Road; and Roadshow’s Broadchurch and The Tunnel.
Non-exclusive: ABC Commercial, Roadshow library, Madman, Pinnacle, Rialto, Transmission.
Presto Movies
Exclusive: First-run rights to films from Paramount, 21st Century Fox, Sony Pictures and NBCUniversal.
Non-exclusive: MGM, Roadshow, The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Entertainment One, Icon, Studiocanal, Transmission.
Presto TV
Exclusive: HBO shows including The Sopranos, Entourage, The Wire, True Blood, Boardwalk Empire, Girls and Veep; Foxtel dramas including Wentworth, Devil’s Playground, Love My Way, Tangle, Satisfaction and Spirited; and Seven Network shows such as Packed to the Rafters, All Saints, Always Greener and Winners and Losers.
Non-exclusive: CBS Studios International, Showtime/ Viacom International Media Networks, Hasbro Studios, ABC Commercial.
Stan
Territory premieres: Better Call Saul, Community series 6, Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle, Dig, Lost Girl series 4 and 5, Gallipoli.
SVOD exclusives: Breaking Bad series 1-5, Fargo, all first-run Roadshow movies, entire catalogue of James Bond movies, World Movies, Underbelly franchise, Love Child, House Husbands and a selection of Roadshow library movies.
Non-exclusive: ABC Commercial, CBS Studios International, MGM, Madman, Pinnacle, Starz, Studiocanal, Viacom International Media Networks.
Quickflix
Non-exclusive: Sony, Warner Bros, NBCUniversal, MGM, HBO, BBC, ITV, Disney, Lionsgate, Starz.