starz

With Disney deal, did Netflix take a risky gamble?

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is starting to look more like the guy who helped Netflix seize an early lead in Internet movie streaming and boost the company's share price last year above $300.

The Web's top video-rental service is being applauded after announcing yesterday that it had reached an agreement to become the exclusive subscription TV service to offer Disney's films starting in 2016. Netflix will get access to new releases from the studio during a span of time known in Hollywood as the pay-TV window, i.e., after the films have appeared in theaters and gone … Read more

The skinny on Netflix-Disney deal (FAQ)

Disney said today that it has signed an exclusive film distribution deal with Netflix starting in 2016.

Netflix will become the only U.S. subscription TV service to offer films from Pixar, Marvel, Walt Disney Animation and Disneynature. Wall Street seemed overjoyed by the news. Netflix shares rose 14 percent following the announcement.

To help readers better understand the deal, CNET has put together this FAQ.

Why is this agreement special? It's the first time that Netflix has acquired access to relatively newer movies from one of Hollywood's top six film studios. Netflix has plenty of titles produced … Read more

Blame Netflix troubles on spotty streaming selection

The first thing to know about Netflix is that CEO Reed Hastings says the business is in good shape.

The next thing to know is that hardly anyone on Wall Street believes him.

Netflix shares toppled last night 16 percent to $85.45 after the Web video-rental service issued first-quarter earnings and projected light subscriber growth for the company's streaming service in the second quarter. For the first three months of the year, Netflix added 1.7 million new streaming subscribers.

"The business is performing exactly as we had hoped," Hastings told analysts following the company's … Read more

Netflix earnings today: It's nail-biting time

Reed Hastings is known for his cool demeanor but if there was ever a time the Netflix CEO may be chewing his fingernails, today is the day.

The mood is tense leading up to Netflix's first-quarter earnings report, scheduled for 1:05 p.m. PT today. The number of Wall Street analysts going bearish on Netflix appears to have risen in recent weeks. In early-morning trading, Netflix shares were down 3 percent, or more than $3, to $102.68.

Analysts expect the Web's top video-rental service to report a loss of 27 cents per share -- due in … Read more

Netflix streaming deal with Starz ends

Goodbye "Scarface" streaming on Netflix. Goodbye streaming of "Young Frankenstein," "Toy Story 3," "Big Trouble in Little China," "Beetlejuice," "Gangs of New York," and many more.

Netflix's 4-year contract with Starz ended as of yesterday, meaning that streaming of all of Starz's movies has ceased. According to CNNMoney, Starz content accounted for 2 percent of users viewing time.

Starz announced that it would end its streaming deal with Netflix last September. In a statement, the company wrote, "This decision is a result of our strategy … Read more

Netflix-DreamWorks deal is more spin than win

Is Netflix desperate to generate positive news?

Sure seems that way. Someone gave The New York Times a heads up on a licensing deal that Netflix signed with DreamWorks Animation, the home of such films as "Shrek" and "How to Train Your Dragon," and the paper wrote a breathless story about the agreement.

But the details of the pact make it clear the partnership doesn't warrant the Times' goose-pimply reaction.

The paper made much of how DreamWorks is walking away from a licensing deal with HBO, the dominant pay TV service. This is supposed to … Read more

Who stole Netflix's mojo?

Even if you believe that splitting Netflix into two services and raising prices is the right plan for the company in the long term, the moves in the near term have many subscribers asking whether managers value them.

Many Netflix users are outraged for the second time in the past three months. CEO Reed Hastings offered an apology last night in a letter to customers as well as in a video message for the way the company announced a price increase in July. He didn't say he was sorry for the actual price hike, and more importantly, he also said Netflix was splitting itself into two separate services. The new Netflix will be involved in streaming video over the Web exclusively, while the other service, called Qwikster, will oversee DVD by mail.

Some analysts and customers argue that Netflix has made plenty of other missteps in the past several months. The company couldn't close a licensing agreement with Starz, the pay-TV service that owns Web distribution rights to content from Sony Pictures and Disney. That means Netflix's streaming library will offer even fewer films from the top Hollywood studios. Much of Hollywood is lukewarm about Netflix's business model and the company has struggled to acquire streaming rights for popular films. … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1545: Netflix isn't seeing Starz anymore (Podcast)

Just in time to force us all to streaming plans, Netflix announces that its content streaming deal with Starz has fallen apart. Eek. But at least they protected us from the tiered pricing Starz wanted in addition to $300 million per year. AT&T prepares its pro-merger death ray, Dominos announces plans for a pizza delivery joint on the moon (seriously), your responses to our decision to go weekly, and Pastor Luke mans up on Computer Love.

Starz halts licensing talks with Netflix

Starz, the premium movie channel that owns the Internet rights to movies from Disney and Sony Pictures, has stopped talking with Netflix about renewing their streaming-licensing agreement and announced it will pull its content off Netflix when the deal expires in February.

Here's what Starz said in a statement this afternoon.

"Starz Entertainment has ended contract renewal negotiations with Netflix. When the agreement expires on February 28, 2012, Starz will cease to distribute its content on the Netflix streaming platform. This decision is a result of our strategy to protect the premium nature of our brand by preserving … Read more

What was Hollywood's role in Netflix price hike?

Some of those searching for clues about why Netflix unexpectedly raised prices last week appear to be convinced that the trail leads to Hollywood, the home of the top six film studios.

After Netflix announced Tuesday that prices would rise by 60 percent, a popular theory was that CEO Reed Hastings sought to build up his war chest. Acquisition costs for streaming content are soaring.

Last week The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Netflix renewed a multiyear licensing agreement with NBC Universal for a fee of as much as $300 million a year. That's more than 10 times the $22 … Read more