Netflix Inc

Online movie rental service Netflix Inc. said its subscriber base grew 74% to 1.49 million during 2003, meeting the company's growth forecast.

The No. 1 video game console is taking a page out of the playbooks of the ones in second and third place. Nintendo Co. announced Wednesday that it would add Netflix's movie-streaming service to its Wii console this spring. Microsoft Corp. added the Netflix streaming function to its Xbox 360 console in November 2008. Sony Corp. did the same on its PlayStation 3 in November 2009. As with Xbox 360 and PS3, the Netflix streaming service will be free to the more than 11 million people who already subscribe to Netflix's movie rental service.

A proposed legal settlement affecting more than 6 million current and former Netflix Inc. subscribers has been delayed to address complaints that the deal unfairly favors the online DVD rental service and lawyers who sued the company. Approval of the class-action settlement in state court was rescheduled to Feb. 22 after the Federal Trade Commission raised a red flag that warned the agreement "appears dangerously close to being a promotional gimmick" for Netflix.

On Wednesday evening, Mike Chauvet opened a red envelope from Netflix and popped "The Hangover" into his DVD player. "I try to get most of the movies I watch through Netflix," said the 30-year-old physician, who lives in Queens, N.Y. Now he's going to have to wait for the privilege. Warner Bros. has struck a deal with Netflix Inc. whereby the fast-growing DVD subscription firm won't offer the studio's movies until 28 days after they go on sale. Had the deal been in effect last month, "The Hangover," which went on sale Dec. 15, wouldn't be available on Netflix until Jan. 14. It's part of a strategy by several studios to create staggered releases of DVDs so that the most profitable transactions are available first and cheaper rental options take effect further down the road.

Netflix Inc. has cut the price for its lowest-priced online DVD rental plan by $1 per month to $4.99 in response to "an ever-evolving and competitive market," a company spokesman said Monday. The entry-level plan allows subscribers to rent one DVD at a time with a limit of two DVDs per month. Prices for the Los Gatos, Calif.-based company's most popular three-at-a-time plan remained unchanged. The price cut comes about two months after rival Blockbuster Inc.

Online DVD rental leader Netflix Inc. is prepared to sacrifice profit for as long as five years to win as many as 20 million U.S. subscribers and fend off major rivals such as Blockbuster Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., its chief executive said. Netflix cut its price in October to $17.99 in anticipation of what CEO Reed Hastings believed was Amazon.com's imminent entry into the U.S. market. Los Gatos, Calif.-based Netflix shares fell 11 cents to $10.68 on Nasdaq.

Online DVD rental company Netflix Inc. said it was considering several options as part of its strategy to let subscribers download movies from the Internet. In a regulatory filing, Netflix said it was clarifying remarks made at a media conference Friday by Eric Besner, its vice president of original programming, who said Netflix was developing a proprietary set-top box. The Los Gatos, Calif.

DVD-by-mail service Netflix Inc. will begin delivering movies and other programming directly to televisions later this year through a set-top box that will pipe entertainment over a high-speed Internet connection. The box, to be made by LG Electronics Inc., is designed to broaden the appeal of Watch Instantly, a year-old streaming service that Los Gatos, Calif.-based Netflix provides to its 7 million subscribers at no additional cost. LG didn't reveal how much the box would cost. Similar devices made by Apple Inc. and Vudu Inc. cost $299 to $399.

Netflix Inc., the largest mail-order video-rental service, said its first-quarter loss widened to $5.79 million as marketing expenses rose. The shares fell as much as 11.9%. The net loss of 11 cents a share compared with a year-earlier loss of $2.38 million, or 5 cents, the company said. Sales at Los Gatos, Calif.-based Netflix rose 80% to $100.4 million. Netflix shares fell as much as $4.41 to $32.61 after hours. In regular trading, they rose 52 cents to $37.02 on Nasdaq.

Netflix Inc., the largest U.S. mail-order movie rental service, settled claims that Blockbuster Inc. illegally copied its method of letting customers order videos over the Internet. The two companies "agreed to a mutually acceptable resolution" of a lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court in April 2006, according to court filings. Terms of the agreement are confidential. Netflix accused Blockbuster of using its patents to launch a rival online service in 2004.

As Yogi Berra would say: Yikes, it's déjà vu all over again. In recent days, my newspaper has been chock-full of stories about the latest round of legal battles between the Hollywood studios and Redbox, the upstart $1-per-night DVD rental kiosk company. My colleague Ben Fritz has done a wonderful job of chronicling all the fussing and fighting, having reported on how three of Hollywood's biggest studios -- 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. and Universal -- are refusing to provide DVDs to Redbox until at least 28 days after they go on sale.

Apparently it's better to rent than to own DVDs during a recession. While movie studios are reeling from plunging DVD sales, which were down 13.5% in the first half of the year, DVD-by-mail subscription company Netflix Inc. saw its revenue surge 21% to $408.5 million in the second quarter that ended June 30. Net income was $32.4 million, up 22% from the same period a year ago.

Amazon.com Inc. makes its money as an online retailer. So why would it want a company that rents DVDs? Officially, it doesn't -- or at least it isn't talking about it. But an Amazon purchase of DVD rental king Netflix Inc. has been the subject of on-again, off-again rumors on Wall Street, and that speculation Monday sent Netflix shares up 7%. Although neither company would comment on the speculation, some analysts think it isn't that far-fetched.

The bottom may be falling out of the DVD market for Hollywood, but not at Netflix Inc. The DVD rental company set a record for subscriber growth -- blowing past the 10-million-customer mark -- and reported that first-quarter profit skyrocketed almost 70% from the same period a year earlier. Reed Hastings, chief executive of Netflix, attributed the growth to the online video service's "unlimited rental" deal, which allows movie junkies all-you-can-watch plans for the month.

Netflix flexed its muscle Monday, saying it would raise prices about 20% for subscribers who rent Blu-ray movie discs. The movie service said the higher rates would allow it to stock more copies of the high-definition discs to keep pace with demand. The rate change, which takes effect April 27, will add $4 to the $17 monthly fee paid by subscribers who rent three movies at a time. Customers who rent standard DVDs will not be affected.

Netflix Inc.'s fourth-quarter profit climbed 45%, propelled by the widening appeal of its relatively inexpensive DVD rental and Internet streaming service during a budget-crimping recession. The results, along with an optimistic forecast for the current quarter, drove Netflix shares up more than 7% in extended trading. The Los Gatos, Calif., company added 718,000 customers in the final three months of 2008, more than doubling the growth envisioned by management. The surge left Netflix with just under 9.4 million customers through December, a 26% gain from 2007 that suggests more people are looking for ways to entertain themselves at home in the worst recession since the early 1980s.

Online DVD rental pioneer Netflix Inc. said it would raise $105 million for its expansion plans by selling an additional 3.5 million shares at $30 each. The Los Gatos, Calif.-based company said in Securities and Exchange Commission documents that it might use the money to finance acquisitions or to develop new technology to complement its booming rental service. Netflix expects to complete the offering Wednesday, adding to its current cash holdings of $228 million.

Online DVD rental service Netflix Inc. named former U.S. Postmaster Gen. William J. Henderson as its chief operations officer, starting next week. Henderson, who served as postmaster general and chief executive of the postal service from 1998 to 2001, succeeds Tom Dillon, who started as Netflix COO in 1999 and is to retire in April. Henderson, 58, will take over managing Netflix's technology, automation and distribution operations, including 37 U.S.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Netflix Inc. were accused of conspiring to create a monopoly for online video rentals in a consumer lawsuit alleging that the collusion drove up prices. The two companies agreed in 2005 that Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, would close its online rental business and refer customers to Netflix, which would promote Wal-Mart's DVD movie sales, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco.

Netflix Inc. continues to expand the reach of its "Watch Instantly" video streaming service, striking a deal to make its movie and TV shows available to about 1 million TiVo owners who have high-speed Internet connections. The partnership represents a bit of back to the future for Netflix and TiVo Inc. They originally announced a video-on-demand deal in fall 2004. That earlier agreement unraveled because of a combination of technology and rights issues.