Netflix Signs Chelsea Handler To Beat Television At Its Own Game

She will be doing a stand up special in October for Netflix, then four "docu-comedies" in 2015, then in 2016, she'll do a talk show.

In addition to giving Handler's fans a reason to subscribe, the move is significant for Netflix because the talk show will be the service's first attempt at regularly-scheduled original programming.

Until now, when Netflix has created original TV shows like "Orange is the New Black" and "House of Cards," it has released entire seasons of the programs all at once.

In doing so, the service has highlighted one of its major perceived advantages over television: that viewers can "binge watch" episodes of a given show on demand instead of having to wait for a weekly episode to air at a specific time.

While Netflix has not stated how frequently Handler's new talk show will air - "Chelsea Lately" is broadcast daily from Monday through Friday - the topical nature of talk shows indicates that Netflix would have to use some sort of recurring schedule.

If the experiment is successful, it would stand to reason that Netflix could branch out into other time-specific areas of programming that have previously been the domain of television (for instance, news).