Day by day, Netflix continues to movie away from content provider to full on broadcast company, and they show no signs of slowing down. With “House Of Cards,” “Hemlock Grove” and “Arrested Development” already out of their original programming gate in 2013, with “Orange Is The New Black” coming next month, the company has now inked another deal that will find even more exclusive shows on their site. We hope your local internet provider is ordering up some new servers.
Netflix and DreamWorks Animation are partnering for 300 hours of material exclusive to the streaming site, and it will be a mix of old and new properties. Last year, DreamWorks bought the rights to the Classic Media catalog, which includes uh, classic characters like Casper the Friendly Ghost, Lassie, She-Ra and Mr. Magoo. On the other end of the spectrum, there are also planned spin-offs and shows “inspired” by DreamWorks success like “Shrek” and “The Croods.” But first out of the gate?
“Turbo: F.A.S.T.” based on the upcoming movie, with the series slated to launch in December. So a nice fit for both Netflix (who just lost a shitload of Nickelodean programming) and DreamWorks, who continue to diversify their branding (a show based on “How To Train Your Dragon” is headed to Cartoon Network).
It’s basically good news for animation fans and while Netflix has been waving the banner of being an online alternative to HBO, they clearly also realize small dunk franchising ain’t a bad way to make some coin either. [New York Times]