MUMBAI: In a drive to add subscribers, Netflix has expanded on a movie licensing deal with The Weinstein Co. that will add more films to its internet video service beginning in 2016.

The multi-year agreement announced builds upon a partnership that Netflix forged with Weinstein last year. That deal gave it the streaming rights to the Oscar-winning film, The Artist, as well other foreign films and documentaries from the eight-year-old studio.

The new deal gives Netflix the rights to show all movies released by Weinstein and its subsidiary, Dimension Films, before they appear on pay-TV channels. That makes it more competitive with channels like HBO and Showtime that have traditionally been the first place to see films after their theatrical runs.

Netflix's exclusive arrangement with Weinstein begins with films released in theaters during 2016. That's around the same time Netflix will begin showing films for the first time outside a movie theater from The Walt Disney, part of an agreement announced last year.

Financial terms of the latest Weinstein deal weren't disclosed.