The deal, as explained by Cnet, is that Hollywood used to see Netflix as a harmless company providing a cute little service to a niche audience. (The Internet? Streaming? What am I, a nerd?) But then Netflix experienced an explosion in popularity, with the company seeing a 66 percent growth in subscribers in the year leading up to last December. And given Netflix’s ubiquity—you can find it on many Blu-ray players, the Xbox 360/PS3/Wii, etc.—it’s hard to imagine a scenario where people will all of a sudden stop using the service.
Unless, of course, Hollywood drains the life out of it.
Since Netflix is no longer seen as a harmless little company—the studios are complaining that it’s eating in airline movie sales, DVD sales, and that cable companies will no longer pay for movie rights because Netflix eliminates movie “scarcity”—Hollywood now sees itself in a prickly situation. Do you go with the flow, and try to figure out how to make Netflix “work” for you, or do you try to eliminate the threat while you still can?
I’m sure you know the answer to that one.
via Fearing iTunes-Like Domination, Hollywood Plots Netflix’s Downfall.
I think Netflix could pretty much start by expanding their catalogue of foreign films and art films and documentaries. If the film studios aren’t going to allow netflix then they have to build their own. Something more than the half effort the TV execs did with HULU.