{"id":156159,"date":"2010-01-08T20:01:26","date_gmt":"2010-01-09T01:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stoth.com\/2010\/01\/08\/live-from-las-vegas-netflix-ceo-reed-hastings-digital-daily\/"},"modified":"2010-01-08T20:01:26","modified_gmt":"2010-01-09T01:01:26","slug":"live-from-las-vegas-netflix-ceo-reed-hastings-digital-daily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/156159","title":{"rendered":"Live from Las Vegas: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings [Digital Daily]"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Reed<\/p>\n

The digital video revolution may be hastening the DVD toward its end, but there\u2019s quite a bit of life left in the old format yet — according to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, anyway. During a wide-ranging on-stage interview with All Things Digital’s Peter Kafka,Hastings discussed the future of the DVD, the deal Netflix (NFLX) cut with Warner Bros. earlier this week<\/a> that will delay rentals of the studio’s films until 28 days after their DVD release and Comcast\u2019s proposal to acquire a controlling stake in NBC Universal, a move that could impact Netflix’s Watch Instantly streaming service.<\/p>\n

“When we first started years ago, we were literally going down to Best Buy and buying a bunch of DVDs and renting them,” Hastings says reflecting on the Warner Bros. deal. He notes that Netflix is getting a better deal on DVD prices as a result.<\/p>\n

“But what do the customers get out of the deal,” asks Peter? More streaming content, says Hastings. <\/p>\n

“You’ve said before that you feel you’re evolving into a streaming business,” Peter says. How quickly is that transition progressing?<\/p>\n

Well, now we’re a DVD rental business that streams some movies, pretty soon we’re going to be a streaming business that rents some DVD’s.”<\/p>\n

When do you think you’ll get to the point where you’re no longer shipping DVDs to your customers? 2030, says Hastings. … Another 20 years. <\/p>\n

Peter: Are you in the market for HBO or a premium channel?<\/p>\n

Hastings: we’re still growing our subscriber base, growing our content. Not yet.<\/p>\n

Any interest in getting into the sports business?<\/p>\n

We’re movie-centric with some TV. Other companies can focus on sports and news.<\/p>\n

You’re on 100 devices. what’s the most popular?<\/p>\n

The videogame consoles, Blu-ray, we’d like to be on all of the videogame consoles.<\/p>\n

How hard were you hit by the recession?<\/p>\n

All of the subscription, entertainment businesses were hit pretty hard … it’s coming back.<\/p>\n

What number of subscribers are idiots like me and pay full price to watch two videos a month?<\/p>\n

Not many, says Hastings.<\/p>\n

What’s the comparison between, say, Blu-ray subscribers and streaming subscribers?<\/p>\n

Streaming is a rocketship. Blu-ray is not, but it may get there.<\/p>\n

You’ve put up a document called “How to run your company the Netflix way.” It says companies should offer unlimited vacation. <\/p>\n

It’s written as an internal document for candidates … other companies have definitely thought it’s dangerous. They can do what they want with it.<\/p>\n

How much vacation do you take?<\/p>\n

Hastings: Weeks and weeks.<\/p>\n

Peter: Awesome.<\/p>\n

Well, part of the time you’re on vacation you’re thinking about work. Some of our most productive people aren’t in the office that much. It’s about how much you get done.<\/p>\n

Are you threatened by what Hulu or Comcast might put together?<\/p>\n

Any time a competitor doubles in size… that’s capitalism, but not good for us. We’re movie-centric, and commercial-free. We license a lot of content, as we get more subscribers, we can write bigger checks to license more content.<\/p>\n

We’re about three things right now: expanding the platform, expanding the content and expanding the user interface, make it better and better.<\/p>\n

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Reed Hastings Interview Photos<\/h4>\n