Video Interview: Reed Hastings, CEO, Netflix, on Moving Beyond The DVD
This story was written by Rafat Ali.
Last week at the NewTeeVee Live conference in San Francisco, I did a short video interview with Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, focusing on its attempts to move beyond the DVD and working with various device companiesRoku, Xbox, Samsung, LG (SEO: 066570) and othersto embed its software into their systems. Among the points he addressed:
-- Hiring a new devices head to work with the partners
-- Timeline horizon on making any of these device partnerships work
-- Reaching the TV through normal Web browsers
-- DVD rental margins, vs streaming video margins
-- Competing with the likes of Hulu, and competing with downloading
-- Working with cable companies: "We would love to do it, but it is not something cable companies seem to be very excited about."
-- Bottlenecks with increasing online video inventory
-- Outlook for DVD business next year
By Rafat Ali