Netflix officially deleted FX’s biker drama Sons of Anarchy from its streaming service without warning. The move left many fans wondering why Netflix would take a massively-successful show off of its service. Show creator Kurt Sutter knows exactly why this happened.
Although the streaming service made no formal announcement about removing the classic show, rumors are swirling as to why this happened. A few other hit Netflix shows recently got the ax, most-notably Marvel shows Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and Daredevil. Most of the shows were hits, with only Iron Fist gaining traction after a fantastic second season.
So what is happening at Netflix? Sutter took to Twitter to say that Sons of Anarchy‘s deletion and the Marvel show cancellations are tied to the same reason. Sutter says:
“The simple explanation why SOA is no longer on Netflix and neither will ‘Mayans MC’…The Disney/Fox deal was about creating a competing streaming platform. That is the future of TV. Although it’ll take a minute to launch, Disney/Fox’s content is their biggest asset in that marketplace.
You can still watch FX shows on FXNow, Hulu and Amazon. At least, for now… I know that doesn’t help if you only have Netflix, but in this ever-changing digital landscape, we are doing our f–king best to get content on as many streaming sources as possible. Sorry it’s wack.”
The news comes via a report from Cinema Blend. The Disney/Fox merger will change the entire streaming landscape, and now we are starting to see the negative side of a merger of this side. It is easy to celebrate the fact that Marvel will get to finally play with the X-Men, but there will be bad side effects from this merger as well.
The properties owned by both Disney and Fox are already starting to disappear from other streaming services as the launch date of Disney+ draws near. Does this indicate that Disney+ will have an R-rating section? It is possible but unlikely. This big Fox pullback is probably so that Disney can rework syndication deals.
