Netflix has criticised the BBC for refusing to allow the streaming giant to license popular children's shows for up to five years after they air.
CEO Ted Sarandos said the company has been forced to find US-made alternatives rather than supply the nation's youth with homegrown programming.
The streaming chief said Auntie's stubbornness is restricting the popularity of its shows and costing it money that could be reinvested in producing more popular content.
He accused the BBC of having a negative attitude that is preventing the corporation from having an even larger global footprint.
Huge mistake
Sarandos told the Guardian: "[The BBC] do some things that are very negative for consumers like they hold back programming from the BBC before it comes to Netflix, up to five years for kids' programming," Sarandos said.
"We could pay a lot of money to license that programming, and they could make more programming and make the BBC a better public service product. What is amazing is we have the ability to give an even larger global footprint to BBC content but I don't want to sit behind that big blackout window."
He added that the money that could be going into the corporation's pockets is instead being spent on US content, just so younger viewers have plenty of content to watch.
He added: "What it is doing is forcing us into licensing content from the US for the UK if we want to have children's programming, creating kids brands that are not homegrown.
"It is a huge mistake – kids' brands are very short life cycles and I'm not willing to pay anything for those things five years later. The best commercial decision possible is to license content while it has a shelf life."
