Showtime CBS and Netflix have signed a two-year contract that will make certain CBS and Showtime shows, including past episodes of Californication and Dexter, available to Netflix subscribers in Canada and Latin American over its Watch Instantly streaming service.This agreement is separate from the one the two companies signed in February, which brought a host of current and catalog content to Netflix customers in the U.S.In addition to back seasons of Californication, Dexter and The United States of Tara, Netflix subscribers in Canada will have access to both current and previous seasons of CW’s 90210, as well as a range of CBS library programming including Numb3rs, Sleeper Cell and Twin Peaks.Latin American subscribers will have access to previous season of 90210, Medium, Nurse Jackie, Californication, Dexter, Star Trek, Charmed and Twin Peaks via its streaming services.Earlier this year, Showtime pulled prior seasons of some of its most popular shows from Netflix’s streaming library in the U.S., in part due to concerns that viewership online might eat into viewing by subscribers. The fear is that could lead some subscribers to quit. As a result, only shows currently still on air were pulled; back episodes of cancelled programs like The Tudors are still available through Netflix streaming.It appears that the main reason CBS and Showtime are fine with making those shows available in international markets is that they’re not as widely available there. Unlike in the U.S., Showtime doesn’t sell subscriptions in Canada or Latin America, so it’s not necessarily competing against itself in the same way that it would in the U.S. By striking a licensing deal for content in those areas, though, it’s driving incremental revenue that it wouldn’t have seen otherwise. (An added bonus is that viewers in those markets will no longer have to pirate those shows.)In addition to current Showtime hits, international viewers will also get a wide range of older content from CBS, including shows like Numb3rs, Sleeper Cell and Twin Peaks in Canada, as well as old episodes of Star Trek and Charmed in Latin America.While it’s good that international viewers will get easier access to these shows, that’s little comfort to the Dexter fan who might want to watch an episode or two while waiting for the next season to be available on U.S. cable. There’s an argument to be made that the availability of back episodes on a streaming service like Netflix will allow viewers to “catch up” on prior seasons and build interest in the current season of a show’s run.That, after all, is exactly what Lionsgate is doing with Mad Men. The first four seasons of the critically acclaimed show appeared on Netflix streaming today. That will give new fans and old fans alike the chance to catch up on all of Don Draper’s philandering ahead of Season 5, which will premiere early next year.
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Film and television Showtime:
1 Showtime (TV channel), a premium subscription television brand
2 Showtime Networks, a division of CBS which owns the Showtime brand
3 Showtime (brand), worldwide stations using this brand, including:
4 Showtime Arabia, formerly the dominant subscription television service in the Middle East and North Africa
5 Showtime movie channels, a suite of Australian premium networks owned under a studio consortium which licenses the Showtime name
Showtime Scandinavia, a television channel broadcasting action movies to the Nordic countries
1 Showtime (film)a 2002 American action/comedy film
2 Showtime (TV series) a Philippine talent show
3 Showtime (Croatia) a Croatian show similar to Pop Idol
4 Showtime at the Apollo, a syndicated music program
5 Showtime (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
6 Showtime (M.A.S.H) an episode of M.A.S.H
7 Showtime an episode of Law and Order
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