• Reuters, Wednesday, September 21, 2011 12:03 PM

Netflix -- which hasn't has much to boast about lately -- can hold its head high on news of a Discovery Communications partnership. Per the deal, Netflix can now carry episodes of popular TV adventure shows including "Man vs. Wild" and "River Monsters." Significantly, "The deal is the first major move by Discovery to make full episodes of its TV shows available for instant streaming, expanding well beyond the short clips that are now available on video sites such as Google Inc's YouTube," Reuters reports.

The two-year deal reportedly only covers material from prior seasons of the TV shows, and is limited to Netflix subscribers in the United States. Discovery, according to Reuters, has an option for a third year, while, financial terms of the agreement were not revealed. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has long resisted making full episodes available on the Web, "saying it failed to make economic sense," according to Reuters.

"The deal with Netflix, however, allows Discovery to sell a big chunk of its programming [sic] library, rather than just one or two of its recent hits. None of the content from Oprah Winfrey's OWN Network -- in which Discovery has a 50% stake -- has been included."

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