Page "Starz (TV channel)" Paragraph 24

StarzPlay was created in late 2008 after Netflix made a deal with Starz Entertainment and smaller studios the Starz channel has output deals with, in lieu of buying digital rights on its own, which can be expensive for newer film titles, allowing Netflix to sub-license Starz's film rights for online streaming as Netflix was merely a " content aggregator ".

However because Netflix chose to sub-license streaming rights through Starz instead of purchasing them outright, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures threatened not to renew its output deal with Starz ( which expires at the end of 2012, barring renewal ) unless it either discontinued the Netflix deal or paid Disney a licensing fee for digital streaming rights to its films.

The service was first made available to Verizon FiOS subscribers, who subscribe to the Starz service.

On September 1, 2011, Starz announced that it would not renew its streaming agreement with Netflix, which ended on February 28, 2012 ; movie titles from Sony Pictures, Disney and other studios that Starz has pay-TV rights to that are available on DVD are not affected and can be acquired from Netflix by this method.