MUMBAI: Online and mail-order film rental service Netflix has reached an exclusive five-year agreement with Paramount Pictures to stream the latter‘s first-run films to subscribers in Canada.
The accord will add more than 350 films to Netflix‘s streaming service in Canada, the Los Gatos.
The deal gives Netflix exclusive pay TV rights to the films, it is understood. The agreement will add films including The Last Airbender and Iron Man 2 to the library of films and TV shows that Canadian subscribers can watch on computers and Internet-enabled televisions.
The five-year deal will deprive domestic pay-TV operators such as Astral as well as Corus Entertainment Inc., that owns Movie Central, of the rights to new Paramount titles, which instead now become available to Canadian viewers through Netflix.
Netflix had entered Canada last fall charging $7.99 a month for access to a library consisting mostly of older television episodes like Saturday Night Live and films.
In another move, Netflix is also in talks for online access to the 700-film library of Miramax that includes Pulp Fiction and Good Will Hunting.v. The deal is estimated to be worth $100 million.
