The CW has decided not to renew its deal with Netflix. DC properties like The Flash, Supergirl, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow would not be featured on the streaming giant once their contract is up.
The CW’s idea moving forward? To shop shows individually to streaming services.
Why is this a big deal? Because this could make shows harder to watch. The Flash and Black Lightning could end up on Hulu while Supergirl could stay with Netflix and so on.
With the shows split, any crossover event could be impossible. Fans would have to see it first run on the CW but if Arrow is on a different streaming site than Flash it would be hard to decide which service would have the rights to the crossover event.
CW president Mark Pedowitz recently spoke at the 2018 Television Critics Association and had this to say:
“We saw this year with Riverdale. There was a 147% increase in terms of the new season premier. In prior years, we’ve seen the same for Supernatural. So there is an effect coming back to the fall for our shows in terms of how people watch them”
Internet analyst firm Sandvine reported that video accounts for 58% of all global internet traffic and BitTorrent usage is again growing after years of decline. During the glory days of Netflix, BitTorrent usages dropped from 52% of upstream internet traffic to 26% in 6 years. This was when we saw the growth of Hulu, Amazon Prime and others.
With the CW shows possibly spread out over these different services the cost could really hit fans hard. Most households have one or two of these services but now could be forced to have more if they want to binge watch their favorite DC shows.
Will this work? Probably not and with the birth of Disney+ and the announcement that their service will stream all of their Marvel properties it shouldn’t come as a surprise when all of the DC properties, including TV, arrive on the DC Universe.
