The underlying question is - If ABC had already "made several complicated international deals for the show" in various territories why would they then cancel it ?
The international deals have nothing to do with cancellation. That was totally a matter of ratings in the US & Canada.
Are they going to repay all the money obtained from selling the show then cancelling it immediately after selling it ???
There's nothing to repay. Are you under the impression that they get paid in advance ? They get paid after it airs.
Obviously money is the driving factor of all the networks, so If something is salable why stop making money on it?
It was only profitable if it could be sold in the US and Canada. Once ABC cancelled it that was all she wrote.
Now if ABC had been unable to sell the show we could understand its' cancellation - but then Netflix would have no obstacles to taking it over. Seems like ABC has deliberately shot itself in the leg.
When ABC sold airing rights to the various foreign outlets several years ago they sold them the right to continue buying new seasons. You HAVE to do this in order to make these sales. That's the way the business works.
When they made the decision to sell to foreign broadcast and cable outlets 3 years ago rather than Netflix it was because a) Netflix paid less than alternatives and b) Netflix's world wide coverage was much smaller than the alternative at that time. But as you alluded to, ABC (Studio) did make a choice.
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