Netflix executive Robert Kyncl joins Google in a sign the search giant's getting serious about TV

Robert Kyncl, one of the key architects of Netflix's popular on-demand streaming service, has joined Google Inc.

Kyncl (pronounced kin' suhl) is to be vice president of content partnerships, the Wall Street Journal reported. Netflix confirmed Kyncl's departure.

"He was a key person in our content acquisition team, and he did leave to work for Google," said Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey.

Google declined to confirm the appointment and said in an e-mailed statement, "Across Google, we are always focused on hiring top talent. Outside of this, we have nothing to announce at this time.”

As vice president of digital content acquisition at Netflix, Kyncl helped Netflix amass thousands of titles its subscribers can stream on-demand from their Internet-connected TVs and devices, such as the Apple iPad, Sony Dash and TiVo digital video recorder.

Kyncl, who once worked at HBO, helped Netflix negotiate a deal last month with Epix, a joint venture between Viacom Inc., Paramount Pictures, MGM Studios Inc. and Lions Gate. The deal added about 3,000 movies to the Netflix service, which now has more than 23,000 titles.

Presumably, Kyncl will help Google build similar relationships with Hollywood for its Google TV plans announced earlier this year.

-- Alex Pham

Time Warner Cable gives thumbs down to Epix movie channel

If you are a Time Warner Cable subscriber eager to get Epix, the pay-TV channel from Viacom, Lions Gate and MGM, you may be in for a long wait.

Time Warner Cable Chief Financial Officer Rob Marcus said Epix didn't do itself any favors when it struck a deal with Netflix that made movies from the pay channel's parent studios available for Internet streaming just 90 days after their debut on Epix.

Speaking at the Bank of America/Merrill Lynch Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference, Marcus said that Epix's deal with Netflix devalued the channel.

When Epix struck its deal with Netflix last month, it hoped that a three-month window between when a movie appeared on the pay cable channel and when it was available for streaming would placate distributors such as Time Warner Cable.

"I think they will understand we have created a window of opportunity for them," Epix Chief Executive Mark Greenberg said at the time. 

Asked by Merrill Lynch/Bank of America media analyst  Jessica Reif if in fact the Netflix deal with Epix would make his company more likely to sign a distribution deal, Marcus cracked, "I'm not sure I understand the logic flow."

Epix has struggled to line up distributors and currently has a little more than 4 million subscribers through carriers that include Verizon's FiOS, Dish Network and Cox Cable. It has yet to sign with several of the biggest TV providersm such as Comcast and DirecTV and, obviously, Time Warner Cable.

-- Joe Flint

Epix's epic deal with Netflix could hurt pay channel's distribution efforts

Start-up pay channel Epix’s newly signed digital distribution deal with Netflix may turn its bottom line from red to black, but it could also hamper its ability to persuade major cable and satellite distribution systems to carry the network.

The five-year deal, valued at as much as $1 billion according to people familiar with the transaction, will put movies from Epix’s studio owners Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on Netflix’s Internet streaming service only three months after they've appeared on cable. The deal goes into effect Sept. 1.

That 90-day delay is intended to placate cable and satellite companies concerned that with a growing number of people watching video on Internet-connected devices, including televisions, some may see no need to subscribe to premium cable channels.

“We’re not naïve; we understand what this deal means, and our partners should too,” said Epix chief executive Mark Greenberg. “As we go into deeper dialogues I think they will understand we have created a window of opportunity for them.”

Netflix already offers movies from Walt Disney Studios and Sony Pictures via a similar deal with Starz.

Epix has small reach of a little more than 4 million subscribers through carriers that include Verizon’s Fios, Dish Network, and Cox Cable. However, it has yet to sign with several of the biggest TV providers such as Comcast, DirecTV and Time Warner Cable.

Those companies, which often insist on having exclusive access to content for extended periods of time, may now be less inclined to sign with Epix despite the 90-day window. HBO, the pay TV leader with about 30 million subscribers, has restrictive deals that don’t give Netflix streaming access to its movies from Warner Bros., Universal Pictures or 20th Century Fox until at least eight years after they are released.

“With Netflix becoming a real threat to distributors, as a cable operator you might not want to sign on with the Epix service,” said Deana Myers, who follows the media industry for SNL Kagan. “It might make it difficult in the long term for them to get carriage, but they are getting a lot of money out of Netflix, which helps them definitely in the short term.”

Though the deal represents a major increase in Netflix’s spending on content, it makes the service a much beefier competitor to cable channels that show movies.

“I think the value proposition stands right alongside HBO for sure,” said Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos.

He and Greenberg, however, disputed the notion that deals such as this one will encourage more people to “cut the cord” and rely entirely on Netflix to watch movies instead of paying for cable.

“Our product is more complimentary to cable than specifically competitive to any channel,” said Sarandos.

Greenberg said Starz has seen its number of subscribers grow over the past year despite its agreement with Netflix, while the number of HBO subscribers has been relatively flat.

— Joe Flint and Ben Fritz

Related:

Epix and Netflix digital partnership to make new pay channel profitable

Netflix and Epix working on major digital partnership to shake up pay TV landscape

Epix and Netflix digital partnership to make new pay channel profitable [updated]

Epix and Netflix on Tuesday morning confirmed their partnership for digital distribution of movies from Paramount Pictures, Lions Gate, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, a deal that will make the start-up pay channel immediately profitable.

As reported yesterday by the Times, Epix will provide movies from its three studio equity partners for Netflix to offer its 15 million subscribers via its Internet streaming service. The deal significantly expands the content available from Netflix on Web-connected devices, including a growing number of televisions, and makes the company best known for its DVD-by-mail delivery a more formidable competitor to pay TV channel HBO.

[Update, 9:45 a.m.: Epix content will begin appearing on Netflix's streaming service on Sept.1]

The two companies said Paramount, Lions Gate and MGM movies will become available for Netflix streaming 90 days after Epix gains the rights, typically a few months after a film debuts on DVD. On a conference call with Wall Street analysts to discuss his company's financial performance, Lions Gate Chief Executive Jon Feltheimer said that space of time was critical to keep Epix appealing to cable and satellite partners that currently or may in the future carry the channel. 

"Any deals we made so far ... were made contemplating this 90-day window," he said. "We see this as a win-win for everybody. It creates a new revenue stream but continues to protect a 90-day window" for cable and satellite companies.

Epix is currently offered by only a few television carriers and by this summer was expected to have between 3 million and 4 million subscribers, the channel's president, Mark Greenberg, previously told the Times. It is still looking to get picked up by the largest cable and satellite carriers, such as Comcast and DirecTV.

Epix and Netflix didn't discuss specific terms of their partnership, but people familiar with the deal told the Times on Monday that it will last five years and could be worth as much as $1 billion over that time span.

Licensing payments from Netflix to Epix will make the pay channel immediately profitable, Feltheimer told analysts, and cash flow positive by next year. It launched in 2009 with the backing of Lions Gate, Paramount parent company Viacom Inc. and MGM.

-- Ben Fritz

Related:

Netflix and Epix working on major digital partnership to shake up pay TV landscape

Netflix and Epix working on major digital partnership to shake up pay TV landscape

In a deal that could transform the landscape for digital movie distribution, start-up pay-TV channel Epix is in serious negotiations to give Netflix exclusive online rights to films from its three equity partners -- Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

The five-year arrangement would allow Netflix subscribers to watch movies such as "Iron Man 2," "Dinner for Schmucks" and this week's release "The Expendables" via the company's Internet streaming service, according to several people familiar with the situation.

The people noted that there are still outstanding issues that must be resolved before the deal can close.

Netflix is expected to pay Epix close to $1 billion in licensing fees over the life of the deal, bringing the channel closer to its goal of breaking even by 2011. Earnest discussions have been ongoing for several months.

The agreement would make Netflix, best known for its DVD-by-mail business, a potentially formidable competitor to Time Warner's dominant pay channel Home Box Office, which has movies from Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures. As more people watch Internet content on their televisions, Netflix has been investing huge amounts of money to acquire content for its streaming video service. It already has a deal with Liberty Media's pay channel Starz, which brings it movies from Walt Disney Studios and Sony Pictures. Netflix also recently acquired exclusive pay-TV window rights for films produced by Relativity Media.

Among the issues the two companies are discussing is when exactly Epix would allow Netflix to start streaming its movies. One person familiar with the matter said it would be at some point after Epix starts airing new movies, typically several months after they launch on DVD.

Sony Television plans to launch two new U.S. channels

Sony Pictures Television has plans to launch two new movie channels later this year, continuing the company's expansion, according to people familiar with the plans.

One venture, tentatively titled Sony Pictures Movies HD, would be the company's first wholly owned cable channel in the U.S. devoted to movies. Although the company owns an expansive portfolio of foreign channels, it has not tapped the lucrative cable TV channel business in the U.S. 

"They have been very successful internationally with their channels, but in the U.S. they have not had the leverage of the other media conglomerates, which have a bunch of different cable channels," said Derek Baine, television analyst for the consulting firm SNL Kagan. "Perhaps they are doing this because the market to sell movies to broadcast and cable networks has been so bad." 

The channel, tentatively scheduled to debut Oct. 1, is being designed to exploit Sony's large film library and offer cable and satellite television operators another high-definition channel to market their packages. Sony owns a stake in the Game Show Network, and it has been experimenting with an advertising-supported online video service, Crackle, which allows people to watch movies and TV shows, as well as series "webisodes."

The Sony movie channel would not be a premium service that competes with HBO, Starz or Showtime -- or an upstart like Epix, according to the sources. Two years ago, three prominent Hollywood studios -- Viacom's Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate Entertainment and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer -- teamed up to create the Epix movie channel, but they have encountered resistance from cable operators, who balked at paying as much as $1.50 a subscriber per month to carry the service.

Sony's venture is expected to be a more modest affair, akin to the Universal HD and the MGM HD channels. MGM receives about 55 cents per subscriber, according to SNL Kagan data.

The other new movie channel being offered to cable and satellite TV systems is FearNet, a joint venture of Sony, Lionsgate and Comcast Corp.  Boasting a trove of horror movies, FearNet currently is offered as an online service and a video-on-demand channel by some cable operators, including Comcast, Cox Communications, AT&T's U-verse and Verizon Fios.

Although FearNet is available in about 28 million homes, TV video-on-demand channels have not gotten much traction.  Sony also is aiming for an Oct. 1 launch for the FearNet movie channel.

Andy Kaplan, president of networks for Sony Pictures Television, is in charge of Sony's efforts to get carriage for the channels. Steve Mosko is president of Sony Pictures Television.

-- Meg James

Photo: Sony Pictures Television President Steve Mosko. Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

Disney makes pay cable deals at Starz and Showtime [Updated]

It was "pay cable deal" day at Walt Disney Co.

Disney ABC Domestic Television group Thursday renewed its long-term distribution deal with Starz Entertainment to carry Walt Disney Studios films released theatrically through 2015. The previous agreement was set to expire in two years.

Separately, Disney also negotiated a new deal for DreamWorks that will see that production company's films go to CBS' Showtime.

The Starz deal covers Disney's live-action and animated films, including "The Princess and the Frog" and "The Proposal," and future movies from Disney's newly acquired Marvel Entertainment (other than "Iron Man 2" and four other films to be distributed by Paramount Pictures). Starz secured the rights to distribute movies from Disney, Disney Animation Studios, Disney-Pixar, Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Pictures through its pay TV channels, as well as online and on-demand.

Miramax Films, which Disney is attempting to sell, also has a deal with Showtime. There are four unreleased Miramax films that would go to Showtime unless the company is sold and a new buyer decides not to release the movies. [For the record: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said there were six unreleased films covered by the deal. The four films are: "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark," "The Switch," "The Debt" and "The Tempest."]

Under Disney's Showtime deal, the cable channel will carry DreamWorks Studios films released this year through 2015. Starz had indicated that id didn't want to distribute the DreamWorks movies to its viewers, and was urging Disney to find another outlet, people close to the situation said.

Showtime needs more movie content because one of its biggest providers of theatrical content, Viacom’s Paramount Pictures, teams with Lions Gate and MGM in Epix, a new pay cable channel that launched several months ago.

Showtime also has deals with Weinstein Co., Summit Entertainment and CBS Films, the latter of which just released its first movie, “Extraordinary Measures," to disappointing results.

Movies from DreamWorks Animation, which is a separate company, remains with HBO. 

-- Dawn C. Chmielewski

Charter Communications picks up Epix cable channel

The upstart pay-TV service Epix just picked up another outlet: Charter Communications.

The cable operator will offer the movie channel, a venture formed by Viacom Inc., its Paramount Pictures unit, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. and Lionsgate, to its 16 million subscribers in May.

Epix has struggled to secure distribution with major cable and satellite TV operators, which were hesitant to add another pricey movie channel during a recession. When the service launched in October, it was carried only on Verizon's Fios service. It has since signed deals with Mediacom and Cox Communications, which will begin to offer the movie service this spring.

However, Epix still does not have distribution deals with Comcast and Time Warner Cable, the nation's two largest operators who combined reach almost 35 million homes. It also does not have a deal yet with DirecTV, the nation's largest satellite distributor.

-- Dawn Chmielewski