There’s a small bright spot under the cloud of bad news for Netflix: Its recent high-profile content deal with DreamWorks Animation is going into effect much sooner than many had anticipated. A Halloween-themed mini series of DreamWorks Spooky Stories starring Shrek and the characters from Monsters vs. Aliens went live this week.
Netflix’s VP of corporate communications Steve Swasey confirmed in an email that the title is part of the content that Netflix acquired through its deal with Dreamworks Animation a month ago. Netflix picked up the studio from HBO, which guarantees that it gets future DreamWorks movies exclusively within the pay TV window.
However, the pact won’t add any newly produced titles to the company’s streaming video catalog until 2013. Also part of the deal were various TV specials produced by DreamWorks Animation as well as catalog titles, and those are now making their way onto Netflix.com. Swasey told us that other DreamWorks titles recently added include the animated TV show Father of the Pride and the movie Joseph, King of Dreams.
Of course, the addition of these relatively unknown titles may not be enough to immediately change the mood of consumers, who have been fleeing the service after this summer’s price hike and the botched attempt to spin off the company’s DVD business. More than 800,000 U.S. customers canceled the service last quarter, the company said Monday as part of its earnings release. This revelation has led to a investors punishing Netflix’s stock, which was down almost 34% Tuesday morning.
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