Netflix in Heated Race for Online Movies

Disciplined growth has helped it through many setbacks

(NEWSER) - Despite plenty of naysayers, Netflix boasts success like few other dot-coms, Chris O’Brien writes in the San Jose Mercury News. The movie-rental service reported record earnings despite the recession, “a neat trick that eBay and Yahoo could only dream of emulating.” Netflix’s innovative distribution system, inventory management, and prescient web-to-TV video streams have won it a permanent spot on the cutting edge. More»

(NEWSER) - Like 10.6 million Americans, Time film critic Richard Corliss has a subscription to Netflix, which sends everything from Bollywood megamusicals to BBC miniseries to his mailbox. "No question," Corliss admits, "Netflix serves a need"—it's super cheap and stocked with titles. But the DVD delivery service has killed off independent stores run by Tarantino-like obsessives, while we turn into "those blobby people in WALL•E." More»

Service may come built-in to electronics

(NEWSER) - Best Buy plans to join the digital movie market this summer to offset declining DVD sales, Variety reports. The retailer is in talks with film providers such as CinemaNow—also Blockbuster's supplier—and may market TVs or Blu-ray players with built-in access to the movie library. That would put Best Buy in direct competition with Netflix and Amazon. More»

New rental rivals prepare for Internet movie showdown

(NEWSER) - Netflix and Apple are preparing to go head-to-head in the burgeoning business of delivering movies over the Internet . AP reports Netflix is expanding its fledgling movie streaming service, Watch Instantly, to give most subscribers unlimited access to 6,000 titles. The move comes just as Apple is about to launch its movie streaming service to iTunes users. More»

Despite profit growth, flurry of grim news troubles Wall Street

(NEWSER) - Netflix faced a second wave of bad news today as its stock price plummeted and its website remained inaccessible to visitors. The company announced price cuts Sunday and yesterday absorbed a triple blow: lowered sales expectations, a subscriber decline, and a Wall Street downgrade. The website crash then left the company's signature interface offline for nearly 24 hours. More»