Miramax and Starz have both been in deal-making mode to give video streaming services Hulu and Netflix access to their content libraries.
Just two weeks after signing a deal with Netflix, Miramax announced a multi-year agreement with Hulu to offer hundreds of the studio’s films—including titles like Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting, and The English Patient—to Hulu Plus subscribers. The movies will be available in HD for TV, computer, mobile, and tablet viewing, free of advertisements. Hulu will also begin rotating approximately 15 Miramax films per month on its free site, with commercial interruptions.
Meanwhile, the New York Post reported that Starz is asking for $350 million per year to renew its streaming deal with Netflix—a massive increase from the $30 million per year that Netflix currently pays for streaming rights, according to a 2008 deal that is set to expire in the first quarter of 2012. That original deal helped to establish Netflix as a prime online streaming destination.
Analysts originally predicted that Starz would shoot for a yearly fee between $250 and $300 million, but according to a pay-TV exec, Starz’s stock price already implies a number of at least $300 million. They might not want to get their hopes up too high, though—Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said last month that he was hoping to pay “in the ballpark” of $200 million.
