Netflix in Talks to Buy Radford Studio Center in Studio City

Netflix is in talks to buy the historic Radford Studio Center in Studio City, a move that could reshape the entertainment landscape across the entire San Fernando Valley.

The deal, reported by the Los Angeles Times, would hand the streaming giant one of the most storied production lots in television history. Radford Studio Center has served as the production home for “Gunsmoke,” “Seinfeld,” “Mary Tyler Moore,” “Big Brother,” and dozens of other landmark shows across several decades. It currently houses CBS Studio Center operations, making this potential acquisition a significant shift in who controls a major piece of Valley infrastructure.

For Burbank residents, this one hits close.

The San Fernando Valley runs on the entertainment industry the way Burroughs runs on its Friday night crowds. Productions at Radford have fed crews, grips, location scouts, and craft services workers who live in Burbank, North Hollywood, and Toluca Lake. A Netflix purchase doesn’t just change a corporate nameplate over a Studio City gate. It reshapes where local production workers spend their careers.

Netflix has been building its Valley footprint for years, and this would be its boldest move yet. The company already operates out of significant space in the region, and acquiring a lot this size would give it a full-scale, self-contained production campus less than ten miles from Burbank’s own studio corridor along Olive Avenue. That corridor, anchored by Disney, Warner Bros., and the smaller independent shops that line the back streets near the Los Angeles Department of City Planning’s industrial zones, stays healthy when production activity clusters nearby.

The history attached to Radford is real. Not just long. Real.

“Seinfeld” shot there. “Mary Tyler Moore” shot there. These aren’t footnotes. They’re touchstones of American television, shows that defined eras and left cultural marks that still echo in every half-hour comedy produced today. Coaches I worked with at Burroughs High used to joke that half their dads had worked a grip truck on one of those lots. That wasn’t entirely a joke.

The acquisition talks raise legitimate questions about what Netflix would do with the space. The company has invested heavily in its own original content pipeline, and a dedicated lot would let it run multiple productions simultaneously without competing for stage space across scattered rental facilities. Industry watchers who track Screen Actors Guild and production union agreements will want to know how Netflix negotiates labor terms as part of any transition from the current CBS-managed structure.

None of that is settled yet.

Negotiations at this scale move slowly and fall apart often. Netflix hasn’t confirmed the talks, and the terms haven’t surfaced publicly. What we do know is that Radford covers roughly 40 acres in Studio City and includes sound stages, backlot space, and production offices built up over generations of continuous use.

For local crews and the families they support in the Valley, the buyer matters less than the continuity of work. A lot that sits idle or gets converted to non-production use would be a real blow. A lot that gets upgraded and kept active under Netflix’s capital would be the opposite. The streaming company spent roughly 17 billion dollars on content in 2024 alone, according to industry tracking, and it’s shown no sign of pulling back on production volume heading into 2026 and beyond.

Burbank’s own entertainment economy tracks closely with what happens at the major lots. The Chandler Bikeway fills every weekday morning with crew members cycling from their North Burbank apartments to productions a few miles south. Rec leagues at Stough Canyon and Memorial Field draw the same grips and gaffers on Saturday mornings. This industry isn’t abstract to this city. It pays mortgages and puts kids in travel baseball uniforms.

The Radford deal won’t be decided at a community meeting or a city council vote. But it will be felt here. A well-funded Netflix campus operating at full capacity in Studio City keeps the regional production ecosystem alive in a way that empty lots don’t, and Burbank sits close enough to feel every ripple that moves through that system.

Talks are ongoing. No closing date has been announced. The lot’s address is 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, and whatever sign eventually goes up over that gate will say something meaningful about the direction of this entire industry through the rest of this decade.