Articles about Netflix

By-mail movie rental pioneer Netflix posted its fourth quarter earnings, with favorable results. But in its quarterly conference call, the company gave DVD about five more years before it ceases to be the dominant format.

Netflix posted its fourth quarter results, with 9.1% annual growth in revenue, 6.2% growth in net income on lower subscriber-acquisition costs, and 18% increase in subscriptions over the same quarter in 2006.

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Netflix subscribers who have unlimited rental plans will now be able to stream an unlimited number of movies or TV shows on their PCs at no additional cost. The change affects all subscribers with plans starting at $8.99 per month, according to a statement. About 6,000 movies and shows are currently available for streaming. Previously the company used a metered approach to offering streaming.

"Unlimited has always been a very powerful selling point with our subscribers and a large part of what set us apart in the marketplace," marketing chief Leslie Kilgore said. Only subscribers of the $4.99 per month plan will have limits on streaming. Two hours of time will be alloted to customers on that plan at no extra charge.

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The movie rental service has decided to abandon its plans for its own set-top box, instead opting to offer its platform through a new device to be manufactured by LG.

A networked set-top box player will make its debut at CES 2008 next week, while actual retail rollout is slated for the second half of this year. The device provides Netflix a delivery method that would allow it to move beyond the computer screen as its current streaming movie offers.

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The US Postmaster General issued a report to the Postal Service recommending it either change its First Class mailing standards to disallow Netflix mailers, or start charging the company a 17 cent handling fee per envelope.

Apparently the two-way Netflix mailers were brought up in audit because approximately 70 percent of them have to be processed by hand. Automatic processing was found to damage either the DVDs or the sorting equipment, and the design of the envelope was reported to cause obscured return addresses and missorts.

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Netflix silently dropped its monthly fee for its three disc out plan on Thursday, sending a e-mail to subscribers. The price will drop by a $1 to $15.99 monthly, a dollar cheaper than a similar plan from Blockbuster. The lower price will take effect with the first statement after today.

The last price decrease by the company was in July, when it lowered it by a dollar to $16.99. This matched a move by Blockbuster the month before. Both sides are locked in a bitter battle for online retail customers, which Blockbuster has showed strength in recent months, adding more customers than its rival.

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FairUse4WM, a program that strips the copyright protection from Windows Media audio and video files, continues to be a thorn in Microsoft's side. An individual has now posted detailed instructions on how to bypass the DRM in Netflix's movie streams, making it so customers can download and share the films.

With the latest update to FairUse4WM, which came in mid-July, it was only a matter of time before new targets were discovered. Last month, users of the application confirmed that it was possible to remove the latest copy protection from songs available on MTV's URGE and Yahoo! Music Unlimited.

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Facing increasing pressure from its competitor, Netflix said Sunday that it will lower the price of several of its rental plans by $1 in order to match the current pricing scheme used by Blockbuster. Its three movie out plan will now be $16.99, and its one movie out plan $8.99, with price cuts becoming effective on Tuesday. The move will likely cost Netflix millions in lost revenue.

The online rental industry is expected to grow by 43 percent this year, and the two companies have been jockeying to attract customers to their plans. Blockbuster has the added benefit of a retail store chain, which it has increasing turned to in order to differentiate itself from Netflix.

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Faced with increasing competition from rental giant Blockbuster, Netflix is taking the expected step of lowering the price of its 2-at-a-time DVD rental plan by $1. The move follows a similar price drop earlier this month by Blockbuster for it's 3-DVD plan.

Netflix customers can now keep two DVDs at once for $13.99 per month. The company's 3-DVD plan remains $17.99 USD. These prices are the same as Blockbuster, although that company offers a $1 discount to those customers who only return their DVDs by mail.

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Two fierce rivals in the DVD rental business have called a truce - at least when it comes to patents. Blockbluster has agreed to settle with Netflix over charges that the brick and mortar retailer infringed on Netflix's online DVD rental patents when it launched Blockbuster Online.

In April 2006, Netflix asked a judge to bar Blockbuster from allowing online rentals, saying the company was infringing on two patents. The first was awarded in 2003 and covers the concept of the automatic queue, which customers add to from the company's library and then receive movies in a customizable order of preference.

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Online DVD rental service Netflix, which has made no secret of its plans to get into the movie downloading business, has appointed Anthony Wood to head its newly created Internet TV group. His focus will be on delivering movies directly to subscribers' televisions via the Internet.

Wood has no stranger to streaming content to the living room. He was the founder of ReplayTV, which competed with TiVo for DVR dominance before its acquisition by SonicBlue in 2001. Wood served as senior vice president of engineering and was responsible for the company's ReplayTV and Rio lines.

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Microsoft on Monday added another member to its board of directors, bringing on Netflix CEO and founder Reed Hastings. Hastings becomes the 10th member of the company's board, and will join its finance committee.

"Reed's track record for delivering innovative and disruptive technologies to market is very impressive," Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said in a statement. "I look forward to working with Microsoft’s esteemed group of board members to help shape the direction of the company as it continues to tackle the biggest industry challenges and opportunities," said Hastings.

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Subscribers of the movie service Netfilx will gain the capability to stream movies to their PCs. About 1,000 films and television shows would be made available through the service, which will be rolled out to current customers over the next six months.

Netflix is facing an ever more competitive Blockbuster, which recently added new rental options to lure customers away from its bigger rival. The streaming feature will be provided at no additional cost above the standard monthly charge.

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In an obvious attempt to attract its rival's customers to its own online movie rental service, Blockbuster will let Netflix subscribers with a Blockbuster membership rent movies from its stores for free through December 21. The Netflix member would have to exchange the tear off address flaps from their envelopes to receive the movie, the company says.

While in the store, it's fairly likely Blockbuster will use the opportunity to promote the new Total Access feature of its own online rental service launched in November. Subscribers are now able to return their movies in-store in exchange for free rentals. Blockbuster Online needs all the help it can get to attract customers - its 1.5 million users trail Netflix's 5.7 million subscribers.

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Looking to improve the personalized recommendations process, Netflix on Monday announced the Netflix Prize, a $1 million contest that awards the first researcher who can reach a certain level of accuracy in recommending movie picks.

After a period of significant advancement in the field, innovation has slowed dramatically. Thus, the Los Gatos, Calif. based movie rental firm was spurred to create the contest to urge researchers to look into better ways to employ recommendation systems.

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Netflix's apparent attempts to force Blockbuster out of the online rental market were stopped for the time being on Tuesday, as a federal judge ruled that Blockbuster would be allowed to proceed with its antitrust case against Netflix. The lawsuit was filed in response to a patent infringement suit filed by Netflix in April of this year.

That case attempted to shut down Blockbuster Online through an injunction. Netflix claims Blockbuster infringes on two patents, one related to the automatic queue, and another that allows for the automatic receipt of new DVDs as well as reorganization of the queue.

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