Netflix agreed Friday to delay new releases from Fox and Universal as long as 28 days after the "street date," giving the studios time to rake in receipts from sales directly to consumers before they're available on Netflix.

Netflix announced a similar deal with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group in January.

DVD and Blu-ray copies of Twentieth Century Fox's hit movie "Avatar," for example, will be sold in stores April 22, but will be released four weeks later to Netflix subscribers. In return, the studios agreed to provide Netflix access to DVD and Blu-ray discs at "reduced product costs, significantly more units and better in-stock levels," according to a company statement.

As plummeting DVD sales have shrunk the bottom line of studios in recent years, they have focused on Redbox and Netflix out of concern that they are drawing consumers away from purchases. Redbox and Netflix rentals generate the smallest profit margins for studios of any home entertainment transaction, and Blu-ray and DVD purchases are the most profitable.

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