Netflix

[Snowreap]

direct streaming seems to be the wave of the future, but despite some initial success Netflix may be in trouble there. I get the impression that studios are starting to think to themselves "hmm, why can't we stream our content to customers directly, and cut out the middleman? more profits for us!" and in this case "the middleman" is Netflix.

for DVD rentals, the middleman provides a clear value -- they manage inventory and mailings -- but for a streaming business what do they offer besides one-stop shopping? and more to the point, how does one-stop shopping benefit any particular content provider? maybe most of the content providers recognize that they are offering crap, and don't want their content presented alongside better offerings from their competitors. so, they hope instead for an exclusive hit available only from their own site, that they can use to market their other crap as well.

-ken