Winners and Losers of 'The Simpsons' FXX Deal

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Big day for The Simpsons: the entirety of the long-running animated show will be available for streaming and on cable for the first time starting next August, via the new spinoff channel FXX. The nine-figure deal has certainly made quite a few people happy, but not everyone is a winner here. Let's see who emerged victorious and who might be disappointed with the outcome. 

The Winners

20th Century Fox: By going to FXX, everyone the show is "staying in the family," as Bill Carter of the New York Times reported. The show was created by 20th Century Fox Television, it is broadcast on Fox, and now has a home at the cable network FXX. And FX paid good money for it. "After the television unit announced the sale, analysts estimated a purchase price of between $1 million and $2 million an episode, putting the overall value in the range of $550 million to $1 billion-plus," Carter wrote. According to Nellie Andreeva at Deadline insiders estimated that FXX was paying about $1.250 million per week. 

The Simpsons: You could argue that the show has gone downhill (we would), but this should definitely revive interest in watching the classic episode, which can only allow the show's reputation to thrive. Plus, all that money. 

FXX: Though the fledgling spinoff network of FX has not gotten off to a totally smooth start, The Simpsons should, according to Josef Adalian at Vulture, help FXX out. "While there's no guarantee The Simpsons will be a ratings monster, it seems likely it will give the network a giant buzz lift and do at least solid numbers," Adalian wrote. Carter called the deal a "foundation stone" for FXX. 

The Losers

Netflix and Other Streaming Platforms: The deal also includes VOD and streaming rights, meaning, as Adalian writes, "It's unlikely the show will be popping up in your Netflix or Hulu queue anytime this decade." Meanwhile, FXNOW has more ammo to directly compete with, say, Netflix, something it already had plans to do. As Andrew Wallenstein reported at Variety, the app aims to have "the kind of library aimed at squarely providing multichannel subscribers with the kind of movie selection they might otherwise look to Netflix to provide." 

Other Cable Networks: According to Andreeva, five networks were bidding for the rights. Alas, FXX emerged the winner. The others? Losers.   

Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell: Earlier this week, FXX canceled W. Kamau Bell's talk show, which was moved from FX to FXX, obviously not to its benefit. It doesn't look like FXX is looking back with very much regret.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.