In a bold move Sunday, Netflix CCO Ted Sarandos published a bulletin on the web site’s official blog announcing that the video-streaming giant would not renew its contract with content provider Epix before it expires at the end of next month, on September 30 at midnight. A collaborative effort between Paramount, MGM, and Lionsgate, Epix will take a number of high-profile properties with it when it parts ways with Netflix; the official post names the likes of the Transformers and Hunger Games franchises along with solidly-okay zombie epic World War Z as titles that will vanish from Netflix in two days’time.
Regrettably, the post does not include a comprehensive list of titles that will be removed once the contract expires — somewhat surprising, considering Netflix’s strong track record of fully and vocally disclosing the dates of new changes to their offerings ahead of time. Perhaps the volume of content about to be removed is large enough that it’d be intimidating to see it all listed in one place. Perhaps Sarandos wanted to get back to whatever a CCO does on a Sunday evening, like lighting gold-plated cigars with flaming 500-Euro bills. (We’re guessing.)
The post segues into a declaration of Netflix’s new emphasis on original, in-house content. Following the announcement that Netflix and Epix are splitsville, Sarandos writes, “It will take us time to build a robust slate of original movies, but we’re hard at work on it with such great stars and directors as Brad Pitt, Ricky Gervais, Judd Apatow, Angelina Jolie, Sofia Coppola and Adam Sandler.” He goes on to rattle off a preview of Netflix’s fall slate of original programming, including the hotly anticipated film Beasts of No Nation, the latest feature effort by Season One True Detective mastermind Cary Fukunaga, starring Idris Elba as an African warlord.
Is Netflix going downhill? Or will their roster of original series and films bolster the library after the split from Epix? Weigh in below.
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