James R | On 22, Jun 2013

Well, this is unexpected.

The Walking Dead is now available on LOVEFiLM Instant.

After Arrested Development, House of Cards and Hemlock Grove, Netflix seemed to have this year’s battle of exclusive content in the bag. Following on from the deal to stream Lillyhammer last year (previously seen on BBC Four), the Amazon-owned subscription service was winning at both nabbing the rights to existing shows and producing their own new stuff. Even The Killing Season 3 is going up episode by episode following its TV broadcast.

So when it comes to The Walking Dead, which Netflix has the rights to in the USA, it was a question of when, not if, we would get the series on VOD over here.

Well, now we have answer: this week. On LOVEFiLM Instant.

The zombie show, created by Frank Darabont and starring awesome Brit actor Andrew Lincoln, munched on awards, brains and fan accolades alike when it made its debut in 2010. Now, UK LOVEFiLM subscribers can devour the first series. Additional series are “scheduled to appear on the service over the next 18 months”, LOVEFiLM has announced – with Season Four on its way to TVs in October, you can expect them to be rolling them out pretty quickly.

Chris Bird, Director of Film Strategy at LOVEFiLM said: “Securing the exclusive streaming rights to The Walking Dead is another exciting development for us. It is seriously impressive that the show has become one of the most-watched drama series in basic US cable history, and a real testament to its quality. We are thrilled to bring this great content to our members, especially as we are the only subscription service in the country to do so.”

Yeah, Netflix. That told you.

The battle for exclusive content shuffles on.

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