“We have different metrics for streaming, but we don’t disclose them.” I think these days it's all about the money and larger deals that involves packages of a large number of films. Ergo, Netflix is becoming very similar to the crappy ecosystem that cable and satellite inhabit where they are forced to pay for channels they don't want to get the shit they do want. In the end, Netflix stopped fighting the studios and gave in. It's all about the dollar now. I imagine it's much harder for independently distributed films to get Netflix's attention these days...

Was Hastings drink New Coke as he hatched this plan?

And sorry if that sounded dickish, I am calling you a visionary please note. I just don't think visionaries are often very good managers...

Reed, I wonder if you'll be CEO much longer. I think you'll be pushed out the same way David Neeleman was at JetBlue. Another great visionary who knows how to build great ideas into great companies but then wasn't a very good manager in the long term. Not sure if you realize that you can't send out a mass email to customers that sounds like you wrote it on your laptop that morning in your pajamas. Not at a multi-billion dollar company. There's only one CEO who gets away with doing whatever he feels like and that's Steve Jobs. I can't think of many others though that prove out in the long term.

Posted many many times that Reed Hastings was failing to listen to the lessons of Starbucks Howard Schultz - someone Hastings said he admired as a CEO. Schultz had said and written that he learned the hard way about his arrogance with Starbucks' success and its subsequent stumbles. I guess internet posters like myself don't carry a lot of weight in the executive offices at Netflix, but I should point out that the company routinely dismisses commenters on boards like this as a "small but vocal" minority of customers at Netflix. And yet so many of the things we say turn out to be right on the money...

I think the name choice is curious. The great thing about the Netflix DVD business is... convenience. It's not quick. It never has been. Streaming is quick. Running to the video store, while not instantaneous, was always quicker than Netflix. The genius of Netflix was how easy and convenient it was. No late fees, the next DVDs in your queue arrive automatically... How did they end up choosing a name like Qwikster? I'm not trying to say coming up with a new brand name is easy - it would be virtually impossible to come up with anything that people will embrace. But I really don't understand the underlying message of the brand name Qwikster.

I think the name choice is curious. The great thing about the Netflix DVD business is... convenience. It's not quick. It never has been. Streaming is quick. Running to the video store, while not instantaneous, was always quicker than Netflix. The genius of Netflix was how easy and convenient it was. No late fees, the next DVDs in your queue arrive automatically... How did they end up choosing a name like Qwikster? I'm not trying to say coming up with a new brand name is easy - it would be virtually impossible to come up with anything that people will embrace. But I really don't understand the underlying message of the brand name Qwikster.

This is standard operating procedure under the Netflix philosophy. Always a very passive aggressive stance towards customers. Doesn't seem likely to change even though their stock took a huge battering for the price changes...

Dear Fellow Shareholders, We thought we could reward the loyalty of our customers by sending them a giant fuck you with a massive price increase. And why not? Our behavior towards our users has always been aggressive and based on the idea that if they don't like it, they have nowhere else to go. But it seems like folks have realized there are a lot more options now for streaming or they can get their movies from kiosks like Redbox. Oops.

I switched to streaming only. Kind of happy to not have send discs back anymore.

"Like any customer-driven organization, we feel bad about having customers upset with us" Translation: If you don't like it, feel free to go somewhere else. Netflix hasn't given a shit about customer reactions in a long long time. About as long as they realized that they could do whatever they wanted and customers didn't have many other options in the marketplace. When there is serious competition to Netflix's role in streaming, suddenly you'll see them start listening again.

This is fairly consistent with Netflix's approach which is generally to be as aggressive as possible towards customer wishes as long as the company feels they have no choice in the matter.

Streaming only here I come...

The Supreme Court said that time shifting is legal in Universal City Studios, Inc. et al. v. Sony Corporation of America Inc. et al (otherwise known as the "Betamax" case). Time shifting refers to the right of a consumer to record a broadcast or cable program to view at a later time or date. How or if this applies to recording Netflix et cetera is not clear, but if I was MediaMall I would argue time shifting.

This doesn't surprise me with Netflix recently announcing they're interested in Facebook integration when they've been heading in the opposite direction for awhile. When Hastings joined the Microsoft board, they went with Microsoft Silverlight even though it was behind other video platforms. Now suddenly they're interested in Facebook after killing just about every social feature. Sometimes Netflix strategy is just based on Hastings making his business friends happy.

Kind of an odd rumor since Apple TV now has Netflix built-in. Not really sure what Apple could add to the TV sector to make consumers want an Apple television. Perhaps if you melded this with the rumors of Apple TV turning into a more iTouch like interface and compatibility. I don't know. I guess it's possible.

Benwaynet, we don't live in a free market or anything even close. We live in a highly regulated society that affords and protects the rights of many citizens ranging from racial minorities to the disabled to ding dongs like yourself. The truth is that the "free market" probably wouldn't give a rat's ass about the deaf population and that's exactly why we have laws protecting them. There are plenty of countries where it's truly a free market - the aggressive and corrupt are free and rich and everyone else eats shit. If that sounds good to you maybe visit one of their embassies and ask about immigrating there...

I'm not talking about the court case. I agree that's a long and pointless battle. I think this has become a more personal fight than anything else; Reed Hasting's style of management is similar to Steve Jobs. The more the NAD attacks Netflix, the more intractable Netflix is going to be. Sure they'll put out information showing their efforts and progress but if Hastings wanted to make this a priority, it would be done. I think they're annoyed at NAD and now that they've been sued, it's going to be an even lesser priority. People like Hastings and Jobs always say it's about business, but in fact they take things extremely personally. IMHO. In

Netflix is in the wrong here. There's really nothing else to say.

Well... I've noticed that the streaming quality on my PC is definitely of a lower quality than it used to be. And my internet connection is the same as it always was. And... Hulu's streaming does not look worse than it was. My conclusion about this stuff is that: - Netflix is experimenting with different streaming algorithms. - Netflix doesn't tell us shit (what else is new?)

This is code to Los Gatos politicians to bend over and give Netflix whatever it wants in terms of its building plans. And of course they will. It would be nice to see a major company not bully a small municipality into getting what it wants without regard for the local community but it never happens.

I thought my browser was glitching out or something. As usual... Netflix fails to explain or communicate with customers as to what's happening. They do a major redesign and there isn't a little pop-up or box explaining the changes. Always the passive-aggressive approach. The design seems to have promise, but for a company that supposedly does a lot of testing I think any five random people could tell you immediately that it still needs some work.

Why do these journalists and analysts always suggest the same boring ass mergers?

Netflix is just hopelessly inept at social networking features. They killed Friends and Profiles for the stated reason that not enough customers used the features. But how many people do they think are going to use Facebook integration? Not many more than they already had. If Netflix only wants to keep features that are used by the majority of customers then I'm afraid this all seems rather pointless. The reality is that most people just want to watch their movies.

Simon pretty much nails it. In our "lifetime" the studios said VCRs would destroy the industry and sued all the way to Supreme Court to try and get rid of them. Now VHS, DVDs, Blu-rays and streaming make more money for the studios than the movie theaters. And it's been that way for many years. Dunn is foolish to prognosticate...