They have announced a long-term deal with CBS and Warner Bros. to stream CW scripted series – that includes the hit shows The Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl, 90210, Supernatural, Nikita, One Tree Hill. The deal also brings new CW shows Ringer, Hart of Dixie and The Secret Circle.

Previous seasons of The Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill and Nikita will will available right away, on October 15th. Previous seasons of Supernatural and 90210 will hit Netflix in January of 2012. Episodes of series currently airing on the network will be available in the Fall of 2012.

The deal stretches to the 2014-2015 seasons of the shows. And each new season of each show will be available on Netflix the Fall after it airs.

Netflix has made two other significant content acquisitions as of late. Last month they made a deal with Discovery Communications to bring in Discovery Channel content like Man vs. Wild and Deadliest Catch. Netflix also announced a deal with DreamWorks studios, the makers of films like Shrek and Kung Fu Panda, to stream their content. The only drawback to that news is that it wont be available until 2013.

Of course, any and all content acquisitions for Netflix’s streaming service is good for the company, as it is still suffering fallout from a series of big announcements – notably the price hike, and the whole Qwikster debacle.

Luckily, Reed Hastings came to his senses and dropped the whole Qwikster idea, saying that Netflix DVD services and streaming would stay under the same umbrella.

In Qwikster news, it looks like some internet denizens aren’t going to let the failed idea die. Today’s daily deal on Woot.com is a Lenovo laptop and it features a hilarious write-up comparing the product to Netflix’s Chief Operation Officer Andy Rendich. He was supposed to take over as the top guy at Qwikster.

But now Qwikster is no more, and the Woot post compares him to all of those who never got their shot –

Because you’re every kid who was open but didn’t get the ball. You’re every musician who had the chops but couldn’t get airplay. You’re Brando in On The Waterfront, you’re Dave Mustaine, you’re Takeru Kobayashi being dragged away by the cops just before the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. You were there and ready and wanted to go, but someone else took your moment before you could prove yourself.

Content acquisitions like this can do nothing but help Netflix, but it’s apparent that they are still climbing the hill when it comes to winning back their millions of users.

If we had to guess, and why not, we’re not real busy right now, we would twiddle a Poirot-style mustache in the direction of CBS’ other CW Network partner, Warner Bros. J’accusez, Barry Mayer and Alan Horn.

CW wants Gossip Girl, its trendy New York beautiful people-centric series, to air new episodes on TV, and only on TV. The LA Times said the return of new episodes on Monday will be the end of online video streaming of those shows.

By throttling online views, CW hopes to push up TV ratings, and thus the ad dollars Gossip Girl can command. The report said the show has been losing big in the ratings department.

Whatever Warner Bros may have gained from its partnership with CBS, monetizing online content isn’t it. The Washington Post said CBS made more money per person with the NCAA hoops tourney online than it did on TV: $4.83 per person against $4.12.

Gossip Girl’s demographic focus goes straight to the 18-34 audience, the only one that exists as far as the networks are concerned. It’s an online savvy audience as well. We wonder if CW has failed to make money with it online, or simply not made the enormous pots of money studio heads feel entitled to in their minds.

The title of the show, "Online Nation," brings to mind more nefarious, melodramatic things – Fast Food Nation pops up first, and another reality show called "Kid Nation" to air on another network – but the premise simple and irresistible if done right.

(Most importantly to television networks these days is that it’s cheap. Hence the artificially reinforced reality show mania propelled by not having to pay actors. And what’s cheaper than user-generated content?)

But it’s also part America’s Funniest Home Video, as users can upload content directly for a chance to be featured. But the crew also scours the Web for what’s popular and/or viral that week.

It seems just a matter of time, as more and more television networks scoop up the free content out there to broadcast and make money from, that users wise up and demand some sort of licensing rights along with their content. How much time it takes for that to happen is another story. Right now, 15 minutes is payment enough.

What’s nice about the show is that it will be Web 2.0 on the TV screen, like they’ve done on MTV’s TRL (omg, Justin is sooooo hot), Online Nation will have an interactive reactive element with viewers seeing the online discussion on the air (heavily monitored and edited we assume).

Online Nation has some familiar names behind it – if not the names then the other shows the names have produced – like David Hurwitz of "Fear Factor" and Paul Cockerill of "Trigger Happy TV" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

Well, Fear Factor was cool, anyway, until it devolved into "What-Will-They-Eat-TV." Online Nation premieres Sunday, September 23, at 7:30 ET.

You can check out a preview at The CW’s website.