Back in November, FXX paid a cool $750 million for “the exclusive cable and VOD/non-linear rights” to The Simpsons, which is highfalutin industry speak for “the right to show episodes from any season whenever they want on television and set up a VOD-streaming site/app/something that will allow viewers to access individual episodes on their computer/tablet/phone/something.” This was, and still is, excellent news. And speaking of excellent news, there’s this: FX top banana Jon Landgraf announced today that (a) the app is coming soon, and (b) FXX will start rolling out the episodes this August, and will kick the celebration off with a 12-day marathon of all of the show’s 522 episodes.
“It will be the longest continuous marathon in the history of television,” said Jon Landgraf, chief executive of FX Networks, at an upfront presentation held in New York Wednesday. A new app is expected to debut in coming weeks, and while executives at the presentation suggested the name “Simpsons World” had been bandied about, FX Networks spokesman John Solberg said a name for the digital outlet was “not formalized yet.” The app would be distinct from FX’s “FXNow” mobile-viewing application already available.
If all of this doesn’t result in a haunting documentary titled 12 Days in August about one Simpsons fan’s descent into madness as he tries to stay awake for the whole marathon, I will be sorely disappointed.
Source: Variety