Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) is all-in in its efforts to attract subscribers to its Watch Instantly streaming service. Reports say the movie rental service is in negotiations with Hollywood studios to pay up to $100,000 an episode for "fresh" TV shows to spice up its streaming media service with TV shows days or even hours after they've been broadcast on TV, reports say.
If Netflix can get studio buy-in--and there's no guarantee of that, even with the good price it's offering--it would become more competitive with Hulu and a more serious threat to cable.
The move would also be somewhat financially remarkable for the service which is attracting viewers by deeply undercutting cable subscription rates. "It's just not going to happen at $7.99," Olaf Olafsson, a Time Warner vice president said during a New York conference. Web companies like Netflix and Hulu must up the ante (which is what Netflix is doing) before Time Warner is willing to sign on.
"We encourage all of that stuff, as long as people pay for the content," Olafsson said. "That's why we're not on Hulu."
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