As the days tick down to the end of January, be on the lookout for news of a deal extension between Netflix and the BBC. If not, many of your favorites could be vanishing from the streaming service.
At 12am on February 1, a longstanding deal with between Netflix and the BBC is set to expire. And when that deal expires, shows like Doctor Who (both old and new), Fawlty Towers, House of Cards (the original), Little Britain, Luther, Primeval, Torchwood, and Top Gear will no longer be available. The BBC and Netflix first teamed up to stream content in the summer of 2011.
Of course, there’s always the chance that the deal will be extended or the two will come to a new agreement. Judging by blog comments, social media chatter, and even online petitions – it’s pretty clear that many Netflix users would be incredibly upset by the loss of this content. Of course, Netflix probably knows this already and though the company no doubt cares about the wants and needs of its customers, public outcry is not enough to save shows from leaving Netflix.
Netflix blog The Best of Netflix claims that a source close to Netflix has some good news, however.
But a source close to Netflix has told me that Netflix is in fact in talks with BBC to ensure that even if the show is not renewed immediately come February 1st, the odds are very good that a deal will be reached within months, or perhaps even weeks, following the February deadline. They commented that there is even potential that the deal could prevent any removal at all (a similar thing just happened to Scrubs which was recently extended at least a month). The contract negotiation is likely to be a “BBC package” renewal, so for fans of less popular BBC shows, the odds are fairly good that your shows will return as well.
Sounds promising. Anyone who’s been a Netflix user for some time will be very familiar with this scenario. Doctor Who fans are just going to have to wait it out – something they’re likely pretty good at.
Image via Doctor Who, Facebook