Streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon continue to threaten to revolutionize a home entertainment industry that is very much in flux as more and more young people are opting out of costly cable and satellite commitments in favor of the lower monthly cost of streaming.  Not only are Netflix and Amazon both creating their own comic book-based projects (Daredevil for Netflix, see "Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage Netflix Series," and The Tick for Amazon, see "Patrick Warburton in 'The Tick'"), they (and their other competitors like Hulu) are gobbling up the streaming rights to existing series.  This fierce competition for "product" has led Netflix to take a gamble and pay big bucks for streaming rights to the DC Comics-based Gotham TV series even before the first episode of that new series has even been broadcast.
 
Deadline reports that Netflix’s acquisition of worldwide streaming rights to Gotham is the first time ever that such rights have been sold before a show has even premiered.  According to Deadline, Netflix is paying $1.75 million for the rights to each episode of Gotham (contrast that with the only slightly larger $2 million Netflix is paying for each episode of the NBC hit The Blacklist).  The first season Gotham episodes will be available to stream on Netflix as soon as the first episode of the second season airs on the Fox network, with the deal continuing to function in that manner until the series ends.
 
Deadline notes that Netflix has been looking to acquire the rights to Gotham since the pilot episode of the series, which presents the heroes and villains of the Batman saga early in their careers, got a great reaction at the L.A. International screenings in May.