Nearly 2,000 Netflix movies to disappear overnight
Netflix 听1,794 titles overnight. Dubbed 鈥淪treamaggedon,鈥� the Internet TV giant lost many of its classic titles when the clock struck midnight on April 30.
The loss of the titles comes at the heels of a deal expiration and the introduction of a new streaming service. Netflix鈥檚 deal with Warner Bros., MGM, and Universal came to an end last night, which resulted in the loss. MGM and Universal titles will now be available for streaming through the $10-a-month service, Warner Archive Instant.
While the vast majority of the films will not be sorely missed, the loss could be an indicator of Netflix鈥檚 future.
鈥淭his licensing deal lapse could just be the beginning of Netflix losing key content that keeps its subscribers coming back,鈥� Business Insider鈥檚 Kevin Smith.
To further add to the loss, it was recently reported that Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is considering not renewing a deal with Viacom. If Mr. Hastings does not renew then Netflix will lose titles from networks such as MTV, Nickelodeon,听and BET.
Streamageddon 2013 also serves as a reminder of the "great Starz purge of 2012." Just last year, Netflix ended its contract with Starz, consequently losing many big-name movies.
Joris Evers, a Netflix spokesperson, told CNET that a lot of the titles lost came to Netflix as part of a deal with the TV station Epix.
鈥淭he vast majority of the titles that expire on Wednesday are older features that were aggregated by Epix," Evers, according to CNET. "We recently added many great, more recent titles such as ParaNorman (Universal), Hunger Games (Epix), Safe (Epix) and Bachelorette (Weinstein). Tomorrow we will also add MI:2, among many other titles.鈥�
In an e-mail to , Netflix released an official statement explaining that it will add more than 500 titles today.
鈥淣etflix is a dynamic service, we constantly update the TV shows and movies that are available to our members. We will add more than 500 titles May 1, but we also have titles expiring, this ebb and flow happens all the time,鈥澨齮he official statement sent to Mashable. 鈥淲e are selective about what鈥檚 available to watch on Netflix. We often license TV shows and movies on an exclusive basis, so we can provide a unique experience. We鈥檒l forego, or choose not renew, titles that aren鈥檛 watched enough. We always use our knowledge about what our members love to watch to decide what鈥檚 available on Netflix.鈥�
The statement goes on to explain that Netflix sees itself as an expert programmer that offers 鈥渁 mix that delights our members, rather than trying to be a broad distributor.鈥�
There鈥檚 much to speculate about Netflix鈥檚 future. The company has successfully launched two of its own series and has delighted users by creating new episodes of Arrested Development. However, the loss of titles whether popular or not, could prove to be detrimental.
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