Licensing agreement between Netflix and AMC “Collection” shows the power of the streaming giant

One possibility is that Netflix users watch your show, then realize it’s from your network, and eventually switch to your network to watch more of your programs.

This happened years ago when Netflix started showing old episodes of AMC’s Breaking Bad while AMC was still airing new episodes of the show, and Breaking Bad’s ratings skyrocketed. This is good for the long-term health of your network.

Another possibility is that Netflix users watch your show, have no idea it’s from your network, and don’t care. They just think it’s a Netflix show because they saw it on Netflix. That’s bad for the long-term health of your network.

The fact that both options exist helps explain why major media companies take an erratic approach to licensing their content to Netflix.

When Netflix was just starting its streaming business, the big media companies were happy to do these deals and thought Netflix was a sucker. Then when they realized Netflix was ruining them, they took a lot of their content from Netflix and put it on their own streaming services. Now they’ve started selling their good stuff to Netflix again because they need the money.

Which brings us to Monday – the first day of a new licensing deal between AMC and Netflix. In addition to licensing shows that have long been on Netflix, like “Breaking Bad” and “The Walking Dead,” AMC is now also selling the streaming rights to shows you may not have seen or even heard of, like “Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire” and “Monsieur Spade.” This is all perfectly normal.

What seems to be new is that Netflix has now agreed to put all of AMC’s series together in one “collection.” In theory, a “Better Call Saul” fan could learn that the series is from AMC and that AMC also has “Gangs of London.” And the first two seasons of that can also be seen on Netflix.

AMC is excited about this and made this clear on its earnings call earlier this summer, calling it “an innovative deal to strategically select and present previous seasons of 15 AMC shows” on Netflix.

I pay a lot of attention to Netflix and have never seen the streamer emphasize which broadcaster or studio something is coming from. Unless they can label something as a “Netflix Original,” which they often do (sometimes even when that’s a bit misleading). And I know that’s definitely something the TV and film people have asked for in the past.

So I was curious to see what that looked like, and… boy, was it hard to find. There’s nothing on my Netflix home screen — neither on my phone nor on my TV — that indicates there’s an AMC “collection,” even though Netflix knows I’ve watched a lot of AMC shows like “Breaking Bad.”

Knowing it had to exist, I typed “AMC” into Netflix’s search bar and ended up on this page, which is actually a curated collection of things from AMC.

But what are the chances of someone typing “AMC” into the Netflix search bar? I’d say very, very low.

There has to be more to it, right? Surely Netflix will eventually give AMC a run for its money on its mighty homepage—the way they use it now, with labels that are either super generic (“Blockbuster Movies”) or embarrassingly detailed (“Because you saw ‘The Equalizer’”). At least for some users.

Then again, I’m a user who watches AMC shows, so you’d think they’d get this to me soon, if not already. And it’s one thing to criticize AMC – quite another to put it somewhere where people can find it.

A Netflix representative declined to comment.

But until I hear or see otherwise, I find it hard to believe that Netflix will dedicate any significant amount of TV space to a single provider, even if that provider supplies Netflix with really good stuff like Breaking Bad.

Because Netflix now has the upper hand over the TV networks. It’s hard to understand why they should make any concessions at all.

*Yes, it’s a stressful job! In a declining industry! On the other hand, you make a lot of money.