Right in the middle of this, shall we say, turbulent week for Netflix, the soon-to-be “exclusively streaming” video company has announced that it has made a deal with Discovery Communications to stream shows from several of its satellite channels, such as TLC, Science, and Animal Planet. That includes shows such as Man Vs. Wild, Say Yes to the Dress, and, we really, really hope Mythbusters. Seriously, does this mean we’ll be able to stream Mythbusters? Because that would be the really good news.
In a press release that came out today, Netflix and Discovery revealed “a two-year non-exclusive licensing agreement” that will make an extensive library of Discovery-owned shows available to stream that will include past seasons of shows that span the course of 25 years. (So, no current seasons.) They specifically cite only a couple of shows (the ones mentioned above, and also Animal Planet’s River Monsters), but made no mention of a specific list of shows that would be offered. Like one of its most popular — and Emmy-nominated — shows, Mythbusters, which airs on the Discovery Channel. From the official release:
“Discovery Communications has always been platform agnostic and committed to satisfying curiosity on all consumer distribution platforms supported by a strong economic model,” said Rebecca Glashow, senior vice president, Digital Distribution, Discovery Communications. “We are pleased to renew this agreement with Netflix, which provides us with programming flexibility and lets loyal and potential fans catch up and discover content. It is a terrific complement to our multi-channel video services and creates additional ways to earn value for our 25-year programming library.”
This, coming from a company whose CEO (David Zaslav) has been reluctant to provide full episodes online.
We can definitely say that our curiosity is piqued over whether our favorite show on the Discovery Channel will be available to stream, but it looks like there will simply be more news to come. But will Mythbusters make the cut? We say: Plausible. Or at least, cautiously optimistic.
(Discovery Communications, Reuters via Gizmodo)
