Last season, “The Blacklist” was a breakout hit for NBC and it was one of the biggest DVR shows on television. And now it’s going to be one of the biggest shows on Netflix as well.
Deadline is reporting that Netflix has picked up the exclusive streaming rights to “The Blacklist” from Sony TV in a deal that calls for $2 million per episode. For the first season alone, that would be a total of $44 million. This is believed to be the biggest TV contract for streaming rights to date, eclipsing Netflix’s previous record of $1.35 million for “The Walking Dead.”
Created by Jon Bokenkamp, “The Blacklist” stars James Spader as Raymond “Red” Reddington, a master criminal who offers to help the FBI catch dangerous criminals while insisting on working only with Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone), a novice profiler.
Related: Megan Boone on ‘The Blacklist’
It’s worth noting that Sony TV still has the rights to sell “The Blacklist” into syndication and cable, but Netflix will receive an exclusive window to premiere new seasons.
To put this deal in perspective, Netflix could have created several original series with the money that it will use to pay for “The Blacklist.” However, someone at Netflix saw more value in acquiring “The Blacklist” than anything else. It may have also been done to keep “The Blacklist” away from Hulu or Amazon Prime.
“The Blacklist” Season 1 will be added to Netflix early next month.
