Netflix Secures Streaming Deal With DreamWorks

I think jinni.com had commoditized this.

I had a lot of confidence in Netflix as recently as 6-8 months ago.... enough to buy a substantial amount of their stock. Obviously that confidence turned out to be expensive to indulge.

It would be different if they were merely catching bad breaks like the loss of the Starz content, but they're actively acting stupid. I didn't know WordPress had a 5000-comment default limit until the Netflix corporate blog overflowed with angry messages from customers after they destroyed the Web front end for their instant-watch service a couple of months ago. The movie browser page still hasn't been fixed, and is still completely unusable, but it looks like they have learned how to disable commenting on most of their subsequent blog posts.

And now, the Quixtar/Quickster/Quickstar/Qwikstar/Quicster/Qwickster/... business, and the... interesting way it was announced by Hastings. Not much can be said about this move that hasn't already been said. About all I can suggest, as both a customer and a stockholder, is that a certified laboratory be engaged to check the Los Gatos municipal water system for heavy-metal content.

All snark aside, it's going to take a smart, agile, innovative, and above all, customer-focused company to deal with the Comcasts and the AT&Ts and the Starz and other middlemen who stand between Netflix and a sustainable business model. Unfortunately the events of the past few months are telegraphing precisely the opposite signals. What in the world is going on over there? Either the world's first corporate suicide plan is in progress, or a brilliant and utterly obscure rope-a-dope strategy is being executed. Either way, the MBA program case studies are going to be really interesting when Netflix finally pulls off whatever they're trying to accomplish.

I'm not so sure things are at all bad for Netflix (though I see the stock market is punishing the hell out of them, that may have just been because the stock was ridiculously over-valued based on a number of indicators).

I remember back in the olden days, like a decade ago, the argument about music and media and writing online was that the company or companies that figured out how to curate the vast array of available data would be the successful media companies of the coming decades. Netflix is better at it than anyone. Because I run Linux most of the time when I'm working, and Netflix doesn't work on Linux, I was using Amazon's video service, and Hulu, to keep myself entertained while working on a server migration. The lack of good recommendations is notable for both services. I feel like I find good things to watch much more readily and with less clicking around on Netflix than on Amazon or Hulu. The overlap is relatively large, particularly with the low-budget movies and older TV series, but the ability for me to find the stuff I'd want to watch is vastly different, and I prefer Netflix by a large margin.

I still go to Amazon sometimes for stuff that I can rent there but can't get on Netflix. And I still go to Hulu for TV that is not yet on Netflix. But, when I sit down with a friend to watch a movie, we fire up the XBOX or Wii and browse Netflix. There's no contest about which is more likely to get my viewership when I'm sitting down to actually watch a movie.

What I'm trying to say is that if the "curator" concept holds water, and I think it will for the next few years anyway, then Netflix is the best placed company in the world right now to play that role. Even if HBO and Sho and various networks wanted to deliver their shows online, history indicates they'll suck at it, and it's unlikely they'll be able to deliver to an XBOX or Wii or Roku...and even if they can do so, they'll be tempted to think they can get 20+ bucks a month from me for a subscription to their cable service for the "on the TV" viewing. All around, the old way they've made money is going to prevent them from making the hard decisions to accept lower revenue per customer, in exchange for more viewers. Classic Innovators Dilemma situation.

I may be wrong...maybe some of the Netflix competitors will figure out the recommendation thing. Maybe they'll get a nice UI. Maybe they'll make the deals they need to put it on televisions rather than just computer screens. Netflix just has an awful big lead in those areas.

All things considered, I'm awfully tempted to buy some NFLX while it's on sale. I bought Google when it hit its 52 week low a few years ago, and have been pleased with the return. NFLX isn't as good a company as GOOG (probably), but it's even more heavily discounted right now.

I do have Prime account. Does it mean i get free streaming? I couldnt figure from reading.

While high-speed isn't available everywhere (I know, because it isn't on every street where I live) it does cover a majority of Americans. Netflix already makes plenty of money and doesn't seem to be suffering from not being available to all Americans.

It doesn't matter how dense the media is as you still need to get the content onto it. This will be done by downloading or purchasing it at a store on some other media to transfer to it.

Thing is, I would rather pay $8/mo to stream older movies I will only ever watch once rather than buy them on DVD for $5/ea in the bargain bin. Even if I decide to watch it a few times, my price for it is still much lower.

You also call the media cheap, which it is and will be, but you forget the costs of licensing. I am sure it doesn't cost $25 to make a blu-ray. Streaming services allow a type of collective bargaining for it's users and gives a lower price overall.