In-Season Stacking Rights Controversy - Pilots Season 2016
Last-minute series pickup negotiations between broadcast networks and studios are always contentious as the two sides engage in some old-school gamesmanship and horse trading over co-productions, time slots and leveraging a hot show to save a bubble one. But this year, there is a new element that has made negotiations with outside studios even more complicated — in-season stacking rights, which allow nets to stream all episodes from a series’ current season on its platforms.
I hear ABC and NBC have been particularly aggressive in pursuing in-season stacking rights on all new shows, standing firm on the issue and refusing to pick up a series without those rights secured.
ABC set the tone in March, announcing what the network called an “unprecedented” deal with Warner Bros. TV Group, creating a template that grants the network full in-season stacking rights to all episodes of new WBTV series for the coming two seasons. (The networks traditionally only have had access to “rolling five” most recent episodes of shows they don’t own.)
More: In-Season Stacking Rights Controversy – Pilots Season 2016, ABC, NBC