Admit it—you would totally watch Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries if they were available on Netflix streaming. Well, you're in luck; these and other guilty pleasures from The CW are coming to Netflix Watch Instantly starting Saturday.
Netflix inked a licensing deal with CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Television Group that will add eight scripted TV dramas from The CW to Netflix's streaming lineup through the 2014-15 season.
That includes new shows Ringer, Hart of Dixie, and The Secret Circle, as well as The Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl, 90210, Supernatural, Nikita, and One Tree Hill.
Older seasons of The Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, and Nikita will be available starting October 15. Supernatural and 90210 will be added in January 2012. Episodes from the current TV season will be available on Watch Instantly in fall 2012.
The deal "opens a new door for The CW programming to expand its audience reach through the terrific Netflix service, and creates a brand-new window for CBS and Warner Bros. to be paid for the content we supply the network," Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corporation, said in a statement.
"This deal works across multiple levels for us," said Mark Pedowitz, president of The CW. "Not only will we be able to recruit new viewers for our shows through the powerful reach of Netflix, but it also makes The CW an even more attractive option to the creative community."
The announcement comes several days after Netflix added more content from AMC Networks to its streaming lineup, starting with The Walking Dead. In recent weeks, Netflix also inked a deal with DreamWorks that will bring the studio's feature films exclusively to Netflix's streaming platform instead of a premium pay TV channel.
Netflix has been building up its streaming library in recent years, but there have been setbacks—Starz will remove its content in February 2012. When Netflix recently increased the price of subscribing to streaming and DVD rentals, customers who stuck with the DVD rentals did so primarily because Netflix's streaming library still lacks some of that blockbuster content viewers want.
In addition to the price hike, Netflix also said it would split its streaming and DVD businesses in two—Netflix for streaming and Qwikster for DVD rentals. After backlash from subscribers, however, Netflix ditched those plans. For more, see Netflix Ditches Qwikster: What You Need to Know.