As we’ve seen with the meteoric appeal of The Last of Us to UK audiences via Comcast/HBO’s content carriage deal with Sky, a great content carriage deal can be a critical part of both growth and audience traction, especially for smaller platforms without the budgets to invest heavily in developing their own original content. With studios becoming more focused on retaining content for their own platforms, however, these deals have been harder to come by, but this week we see Mubi strike a fantastic deal with Sony Pictures for library content. Blake & Wang P.A entertainment attorney, Brandon Blake, has more focus.
The Unique Sony Position
With more and more of the so-called ‘legacy’ studios launching their own streaming platforms, Sony has chosen to take a different position. One that involves licensing its compelling library of content to the highest bidder (or, rather, several). The company is on-record as seeing this as a unique selling proposition for their coveted titles, allowing them to remain agile (and in the black) in an era where many of the newer streaming platforms are struggling to reach profitability. So far, it is working well for them indeed.
The Mubi Deal
Mubi, which also acts as a distributor and has even ventured into the production arena of late, also offers a unique theatrical deal with its premium Mubi Go service, allowing for a free movie ticket each week for a selected film in key locations through the US. This has made it something of a darling with Indie distributors, who have seen an uptick in audiences from the offer. It currently offers its base plan to US markets for $12.99 a month, or $17.99 with the Mubi Go option. While we have no clear subscription numbers for them, they do suggest a ‘community’ figure of around 12M members.
The new deal will see them add to the 900+ titles already on their US service with 50 new additions from the Sony library, mostly studio and arthouse fare. They add one new movie to the platform daily. Each Sony title will receive its own window, with some going to immediate accessibility and others cycling onto the platform through the end of 2024. No doubt this new haul from Sony, which includes cult classics like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, will be a fantastic drawcard for the service.
Film and Television 