April 10th, 2010 
Cliff Riseborough 
In January, Netflix signed a deal with Warner Bros. that put a 28 day delay on Netflix adding WB new releases to their catalogue. In exchange, Warner Bros. gave Netflix more favourable financial terms. A similar deal has now been struck between Netflix and both 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures.
Whenever a new Fox or Universal movie releases on DVD, Netflix will hold off on adding it to their distribution catalogue for a period of 28 days. As with the earlier WB deal, Netflix will receive more favourable financial terms. Much of the cash saved in these deals will be used to beef up their digital streaming distribution system.
The studios believe that delaying Netflix availability will also delay widespread piracy of their new releases, and also help to maintain the market for physical outlets like Blockbuster, who also recently signed a deal guaranteeing continued access to new release movies with Warner, Fox and Sony Pictures.
It’s quite likely that similar deals will be struck between Netflix and the other major movie studios.
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