Netflix stumping up $2m per episode for The Blacklist

Netflix has acquired US drama series The Blacklist for a reported US$2m per episode.

The streaming service will start showing episodes of the James Spader drama next week, according to Deadline, which broke the news.

The series has been a hit for NBC and is in its 22-episode second season on the US broadcast net. Davis Entertainment Company produces the show in association with Sony Pictures Television, which sells it and struck the Netflix deal.

Netflix will get the thriller series after it airs on NBC and SPT is understood to be free to sell it into syndication. Deadline said The Blacklist deal was the richest ever in the subscription VOD window beating the US$1.35 million an episode Netflix paid for eOne-distributed AMC series The Walking Dead.

Sony has deep production and content sales ties to Netflix. Its UK prodco Left Bank is making Netflix’s first UK original, The Queen, and with KZK it is making a US-produced drama for the streaming service. It also distributes Netflix’s House of Cards internationally.