Netflix Coming Soon: Streaming Company Looking at News Content, Negotiating For 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'
Streaming video giant Netflix is taking its own platform and reinventing the wheel for subscription-based video buffet streaming. The company announced it is not only looking to expand its library by adding original content and outsourced content like "Star Wars," but it is also looking to become real competitor in the news market.
According to Deadline, the company did not specify if it is looking to take on news giants like CNN, NBC, CBS and Fox but said it was to compete head on with streaming news platforms like Vice.
Their platform may be somewhat different than that of Vice, though, looking to cash in on the features rather than the breaking news and hourly updates.
Variety reports Netflix took part in a video conference session following the third quarter earnings. The development about adding news content was one of the main topics for the call.
"What is the likelihood we compete directly with Vice in the next two years?" Netflix CEO Reed Hastings asked his own chief content officer Ted Sarandos.
"Probably high," Sarandos said.
But a rep for the company made sure to clarify for investors and reporters after the call that the news venture was not intended to say they were going to be programming live or breaking news, which reinforces the "features only" report on Deadline.
Sarandos also made clear they had no interest in bidding for doing live sports on the platform either.
So what else is next for content at Netflix? For those who have not been keeping up with the news over the past month or so, Netflix already has landing pages for the first six "Star Wars" films, and the entire franchise is expected to land at the streaming company.
Deadline reports that may also include the newest addition to the franchise, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
"It's up to Disney. It's an ongoing discussion," Sarandos said in the video conference.
But of course the debut of that film on Netflix is likely to be a long, long time away.
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