Netflix has been hard at work acquiring content licenses for its Watch Instantly service, but is it also looking to offer its own original series?
Netflix is in talks to distribute "House of Cards," a political drama directed by David Fincher and starring Kevin Spacey, according to the Wall Street Journal. Under the deal, episodes would air on Netflix first, but production company Media Rights Capital would have the right to air it on TV or release DVDs at a later date.
Deadline.com said the deal could be worth $100 million, but sources told the Journal the price is likely not that high. The move could help Netflix compete with premium cable channels like HBO, which has had success with original programming like "The Sopranos," "True Blood," and "Sex and the City." Netflix users can rent HBO shows via DVD, but they are not yet available via Watch Instantly.
Fincher was nominated for a Best Director Oscar for his work on the Facebook movie, "The Social Network," a film produced by Spacey.
Netflix said it was not commenting.
The news comes one day after NPD Group reported that Netflix dominates the digital movie space, expanding its digital movie share to 61 percent in January. Comcast's on-demand offerings were a distant second at 8 percent, while DirecTV, Time Warner Cable, and Apple were tied for third place with 4 percent.
Last week, Warner Bros. announced plans to let Facebook users rent a streaming version of the "The Dark Knight" via the social-networking site for $3, prompting some to ask if Facebook was going after Netflix. When Facebook launched its "Facebook Live" video site last year, the company said its focus was "to communicate with our users more directly," but that Facebook had "no plans to get into content production."
All Things D, however, reports that Major League Baseball on Tuesday streamed a pre-season game between the Dodgers and the Rangers last night. But the effort, however, is less about boosting Facebook's video presence and more about getting people to navigate away from Facebook and sign up for MLB.com's premium service, MLB told ATD.
Editor's Note: This story was updated at 5:30pm with comment from Netflix.