Netflix Secures Streaming Deal With DreamWorks
LOS ANGELES — DreamWorks Animation, the company behind successful movie franchises like “Madagascar” and “Shrek,” said it had completed a deal to pump its films and television specials through Netflix, replacing a less lucrative pact with HBO.
Context & Ripple Effects
Netflix lands this deal at a bruising moment: it has just let its long-running Starz partnership lapse, taken fire over a price hike that management itself warned would clip near-term revenue, and is testing a dedicated 'Just For Kids' section aimed at children's viewing. The DreamWorks Animation catalog — Madagascar, Shrek and the rest — slots directly into that family push, and follows a spring in which Netflix was reported near a separate streaming deal with Miramax, signaling a broader studio-by-studio buying spree.
The strategic sting is aimed at HBO: DreamWorks confirmed it is abandoning a less lucrative output pact with the premium-cable network, meaning films that once flowed through the traditional pay-TV window will now premiere on a subscription streaming service instead.
First-order effects
- HBO loses an exclusive animated-film pipeline it had held under its prior output deal, while Netflix gains first-run rights to DreamWorks' theatrical slate and TV specials — direct ammunition for the 'Just For Kids' rollout it began testing in August.
Second-order effects
- Rival studios with pay-TV output pacts now have a live precedent for shopping those windows to Netflix, which has already been reported circling Miramax; expect HBO and Starz to defend remaining exclusives or reprice them.
Third-order effects
- If studios keep routing first-run film windows to streamers, the premium-cable model built on exclusive post-theatrical output erodes, and content costs shift toward whoever can bid globally across devices rather than by channel bundle.
The trend: First-run film distribution is migrating from exclusive premium-cable output deals to streaming subscriptions, with Netflix buying studio catalogs one pact at a time.