Sony films pulled from Netflix online service
LOS ANGELES — Sony movies were pulled from Netflix Inc.’s online streaming service yesterday because of what Netflix said is a “temporary contract issue’’ between Sony Corp. and its pay TV distributor, Starz.
Netflix notified its members in a blog post yesterday, when movies such as “Easy A’’ and “Grown Ups’’ stopped being available on its “Watch Instantly’’ service. They are still available to be rented through the mail.
Starz said in a statement that “all parties are working diligently to resolve the issue.’’
A person familiar with the matter said Netflix’s explosive growth triggered a clause in Sony’s deal with Starz that resulted in the stoppage. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.
Netflix has said that it ended March with 23.6 million subscribers in the United States and Canada.
The temporary outage comes at a time when Starz is doing its best to show Netflix how much customers appreciate being able to watch movies from its studio partners over the Internet.
