If Netflix's poorly received rate hike and Qwikster fiasco didn't leave you questioning CEO Reed Hastings' ability to lead the video buffet operator, Monday night's quarterly report should do the trick. But it'll take more than strategic missteps and fumbled apologies to send the CEO packing.
The Netflix Goliath was seriously weakened this week when Starz said it will pull its content from the company's streaming feed in February: Is it time for the industry Davids such as Redbox, Blockbuster and Amazon to pull out their slingshots?
Blockbuster on Monday kicked off the confidential auction process that will decide its future. Billionaire Carl Icahn and others have bid for the troubled video-rental chain.
Walt Disney is increasing the wholesale prices it charges for DVDs to movies-by-mail leader Netflix and movie-rental kiosk operator Redbox. Disney is looking to benefit further from being the only major studio to sell DVDs to the companies for rental the day they go on sale to the public.
That's the price tag for a Prima Cinema system that'll let you watch the latest releases at home from day one. The cost is sure to keep the market small, for now at least. The promise is that this is just the first step to more widespread at-home distribution.
Coinstar, the parent of Redbox self-service DVD-rental machines, said second-quarter profit fell less than analysts expected and that forecast 2011 sales would exceed analysts' estimates.
It's easy to blame Blockbuster's collapse, which culminated Thursday in a voluntary Chapter 11 filing, on the rise of streaming Internet video and kiosk rental options. But Netflix faced the same threats and it's thriving. So what did Netflix do smarter than its bankrupt rival?
