'American Crime Story' Ray Mickshaw/FX
The first season, 'The People v. O.J. Simpson,' will be available globally on Netflix (excluding Canada) in 2017.
Netflix is hoping American crimes have worldwide appeal.
The streaming service announced its first global pact with 20th Century Fox TV Distribution Monday, which will make it the exclusive global streaming home for FX’s anthology American Crime Story. The first season, The People v. O.J. Simpson, will be available globally on Netflix (save for Canada) in 2017. All future seasons will become available to streaming viewers after their broadcast window on FX.
The news comes several months after American Crime Story, a co-production between FX Productions and Fox 21 TV Studios, wrapped its critically praised first season, and fresh off earning 22 Emmy nominations in mid-July. The series, which counts Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson and Ryan Murphy as exec producers, concluded its 10-episode run as cable’s most-watched new series of 2016, and has plenty of hype surrounding season 2, which will focus on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
“We’re excited to evolve our relationship with Fox and to bring their lauded content to our members around the world,” noted Netflix’s VP of global television Sean Carey, with 20th Century Fox TV Distribution’s exec VP worldwide pay TV and SVOD adding: “We’re extremely pleased to continue our relationship with Netflix on this groundbreaking deal. We are very proud of the first installment of this franchise, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, which has received extraordinary critical acclaim and perfectly captured the cultural Zeitgeist.”
In recent years, FX Networks CEO John Landgraf has been publicly critical of Netflix's practices, be it the service's lack or ratings or its unwillingness to attach network branding to programming running in its second window on Netflix. One has to assume this deal was too lucrative to turn down.
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