Netflix: No, We Won't Stream New Releases
Netflix is the undisputed champ when it comes to streaming video. But there's one thing its competitors will do that Netflix won't: stream new releases. Will that be the company's undoing?
Netflix is the undisputed champ when it comes to streaming video. But there's one thing its competitors will do that Netflix won't: stream new releases. Will that be the company's undoing?
In a single deal, Amazon has become a legitimate rival to Netflix. Its streaming deal with EPIX gives its Amazon Prime customers free access to 2,000 movies from Paramount Pictures, MGM, and Lionsgate -- films like Iron Man 2, Super 8, True Grit, Rango, and many others.
Netflix has identified its next foreign market. The popular video service revealed on Wednesday morning that it will roll out its premium streaming platform through Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland later this year.
There's no point in letting a $1 billion lawsuit get in the way of a good thing. Even though Viacom and Google's YouTube are still embroiled in a five-year legal tussle over video clips, the two are hooking up in a digital streaming deal.
Netflix hopes its latest move doesn't turn out to resemble a British comedy. The video buffet operator introduced its streaming service in Ireland and the U.K. on Monday. And while overseas expansion is old hat for Netflix, this time, the challenges are bigger.
Netflix's massive rate hike plan represents a 60% increase for some of its customers -- a giant step up by any standard. And the unspoken cost is, of course, the price of broadband Internet service customers also pay, likely on top of a cable bill, cellphone bill and other media subscriptions. In the end, how much media - and how many subscriptions - do we really need? Even as the offerings around us increase, there are still only 24 hours in a day.
Movie rental giant Netflix's decision to raise rates by up to 60% has caused a big stir among some of its 23 million subscribers. Could the higher prices lead to cancellations, slow the company's growth? Are you a subscriber? Share your thoughts about the rate hike on our message board.
Google's video-sharing site, YouTube, is giving Netflix investors a little scare with its recent announcement that it has doubled the number of movie titles in its rental library to 6,000. But could YouTube's strategy be successful enough that it could directly compete with Netflix?
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.
Bankrupt video-rental company Blockbuster may put itself up for sale as early as next week, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The company had previously planned to reorganize, but creditors couldn't agree on a plan to restructure its debt.
Netflix angered customers this week by removing the option to order DVDs via videostreaming consoles and mobile devices. The news that it was eliminating the "Add to DVD Queue" button in order to focus more on streaming videos has drawn thousands of comments, many critical of the company.
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?










