Hacking NetFlix

Netflix New Releases for May 14th, 2013

Here's the full list of new Netflix DVD releases this week (detailed list): A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, Chosen: Season 1, Liz & Dick, Texas Chainsaw, Tomorrow You're Gone, and UFC 156: Aldo vs. Edgar.

Interesting recent streaming releases include Defiance, Pulp Fiction, Hit and Run, Dirty Dancing, Red Violin, Tomb Raider, Futurama, Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Mission: Impossible II, Mercury Rising, Erik The Viking, F/X, , The Cabin in the Woods, Price Check, John Dies at the End, House at the End of the Street, Hellgate, Antichrist, and The Other Woman.

Netflix New Releases for May 7th, 2013

Here's the full list of new DVD releases this week (detailed list): Jack Reacher, Hyde Park on Hudson, Steel Magnolias (2012), Safe Haven, Upstream Color, Left to Die: The Sandra and Tammi Chase Story, Mighty Fine, Norman, Starlet, The Oranges, Viva Zapata!, Marley Africa Road Trip, If I Were You, Revenge for Jolly!, UFC Presents Benson Henderson: Rising Up, Barrymore, and Planet Ocean.

Netflix New Releases for April 30th, 2013

Here's the full list of new Netflxi DVD releases this week (detailed list): Silver Linings Playbook, Broken City, The Details, The Guilt Trip, Ben Hur (The Series), Not Fade Away, Only the Young, Tchoupitoulas, The Revisionaries, Raines, and The Philanthropist.

Interesting streaming releases in the past week include The Paperboy, Just Like Being There, Flying Wild Alaska (Season 2), Gold Rush Season 2, Girl In Progress, Small Town Security, What to Expect When You're Expecting, and Are We There Yet?

Netflix New Releases for April 23rd, 2013

Here's the full list of new Netflix DVD releases this week (detailed list): The Impossible, Pawn, To the Arctic, Cold Prey 2, Wuthering Heights, Assassins Run, Parental Guidance, Family Weekend, Any Day Now, Pegasus vs. Chimera, K-11, The Central Park Five, and Happy People: A Year in the Taiga.

Interesting streaming releases include Netflix's Hemlock Grove, Dark Matters: Twisted but True, Safe, Copper Season 1, House of Bodies, Paranorman, Continuum, Kitchen Nightmares (U.S.) Seasons 1 & 2, Tom Green: Live, Top of the Lake, , Mr. Bean's Holiday, and Drop Dead Fred.

Netflix New Releases for April 16th, 2013

Here's the full list of new Netflix DVD relases this week (detailed list): Les Miserables, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Django Unchained, This Is 40, Empire of Silver, Save the Date, Escapee, The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia, Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore, Dragon, and At the Gate of the Ghost.

Interesting streaming releases include The Passion of the Christ, Scream 4, The Cottage, American Guns (Season 1), Storage 24, Arena, Rise of the Zombies, and Bryan Callen: Man Class.

Netflix New Releases for April 9th, 2013

Here's the full list of Netflix DVD releases this week (detailed list): Life of Pi, Hitchcock, Bad Kids Go to Hell, In Another Country, The Sorcerer and the White Snake, Down the Shore, Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!: Best Of Walden, and Curious George: Swings Into Spring. 

Interesting recent streaming releases include The Hunger Games, Fringe, Awake, Lay the Favorite, Braveheart, The Pasion of the Christ, The Awakening, Pi, Bully, Children's Hospital, Carrie, Rain Man, Pet Sematary, Footloose, Fatal Attraction, Dr. No, Dead Zone, Casino Royale, For Your Eyes Only, GoldenEye, Goldfinger, License to Kill, Live and Let Die, Octopussy, The Spy Who Loved Me, The World is Not Enough, A View to a Kill, and This Must be the Place.

Netflix New Releases for April 2nd, 2013

Here's the full list of new Netflix DVD releases this week (detailed list): Red Dawn, Hemingway & Gellhorn, The Baytown Outlaws, The Marine 3: Homefront, The Sweeney, Foodfight!, LUV, The Bible: The Epic Miniseries, John Dies at the End, Earth's Final Hours, Knuckleball!, UFC 155: Dos Santos vs. Velasquez II, and Hitler's Children.

Interesting streaming releases in the past week include Mad Men: Season 5, Stolen, Bachelorette, A Dark Truth, Dinotasia, The Comedy, The Tempest, and Faster.

Netflix New Releases for March 26th, 2013

Here's the full list of new Netflix DVD releases this week (detailed list): Lincoln, Chasing Mavericks, Killing Them Softly, Day of the Falcon, Shana: Season 3: Part 1, The Comedy, The Eye of the Storm, Union Square, The Collection, Easy Money, A Royal Affair, Stand Off, Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, Step Up to the Plate, UFC: Best of 2012: Year in Review, Scooby-Doo!: Mask of the Blue Falcon, and Barbie: In The Pink Shoes. 

Interesting recent streaming releases include Cosmopolis, The Factory, The Killing (new season), LOL, Stolen, DreamWorks Presents Behind the Scenes of "THE CROODS", And They're Off..., Craig Ferguson: I'm Here to Help, George Carlin: Carlin at Carnegie, Feel, Passione, Game Day, and Fat Kid Rules the World.

Netflix New Releases for March 19th, 2013

Here's the full list of new Netflix DVDs released this week (detailed list): Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, Anna Karenina, The Factory, Angus Buchan's Ordinary People, The Other Son, Rust and Bone, Ghost Storm, Shadow People, The Big Picture, Price Check, Atlas Shrugged: Part II, Bachelorette, and An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars.

Netflix New Releases for March 12th, 2013

Here's the full list of new Netflix DVDs this week (detailed list): Skyfall, The Sessions, The Man with the Iron Fists, Cinderella, Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away, Rise of the Guardians, The First Time, Smashed, Silent Hill: Revelation, Storage 24, In Their Skin, Connected: An Autoblogography About Love, Death & Technology, Kumaré, Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness, The Flat, You've Been Trumped, Ripper Street, and This Must Be the Place.

Interesting streaming releases in the past week include Deadfall, The Letter, A Girl Walks into a Bar, The Assassins, 40 Days and 40 Nights, and Archer (new season).

Netflix New Releases for March 5th, 2013

Here's the full list of new Netflix DVDs this week (detailed list): Wreck-It Ralph, Lay the Favorite, A Late Quartet, California Solo, Gun Hill Road, Thorne, Playing for Keeps, The Intouchables, The Bay, Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie, A Dark Truth, Grave Encounters 2, and Monster High: Friday Night Frights/ Why Do Ghouls Fall in Love?

Interesting streaming releases in the past week include Friends with Kids, Big Fish, Godzilla, Hustle & Flow, Lewis Black: Stark Raving Black, Pretty in Pink, Jay and Silent Bob Go Down Under, The Haunting of Whaley House, XIII: The Series, Yours, Mine and Ours, Toys, and Manhunter. 

Netflix New Releases for February 26th, 2013

Here's the full list of new Netflix DVD releases this week (detailed list): The Master, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 2, This is Not a Film, A Simple Life, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns: Part 2, Border Run, Chicken with Plums, Company of Heroes, Girls Against Boys, Holy Motors, How to Survive a Plague, Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow, The Awakening, The Loneliest Planet, and Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare. 

Interesting streaming releases in the past week include Louis C.K.: Live at the Beacon Theater, Side by Side, Che, Alaska State Troopers (Season 1), Revenge of the Electric Car, Aziz Ansari: Dangerously Delicious, and Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning.

Netflix New Releases for February 19th, 2013

Here's the full list of new Netflix DVD releases this week (detailed list): End of Watch, Death Race 3: Inferno, Special Forces, The Package, For a Good Time, Call..., Sushi Girl, Undefeated, Fun Size, Small Apartments, For Ellen, North Sea Texas, Sinister, Seeds of Destruction, Hipsters, UFC 154: St-Pierre vs. Condit, and Lake Placid: The Final Chapter. 

Interesting streaming releases in the past week include Safety Not Guaranteed, The Fourth Kind, To.Get.Her, Purification, Nora, Fab Five, and Broke.

Netflix New Releases for February 12th, 2013

Here's the full list of DVD releases this week (detailed list): Taken 2, Robot & Frank, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Bully, Girl Model, Planet of Snail, Dangerous Liaisons, Won't Back Down, Smiley, Kill For Me, 28 Hotel Rooms, Mimesis, Rise of the Zombies, 30 Nights of Paranormal Activity with the Devil Inside the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Aladdin and the Death Lamp, Teddy Bear, The Kid with a Bike, and Chuggington: Safari Adventures. 

Interesting streaming relases in the past week include Mona Lisa Smile, The Raven, Tanked: Season 1, Amber Alert, Compliance,Dark Planet, 3 Backyards, and Futurama,

Netflix New Releases for February 5th, 2013

Here's the full list of new Netflix DVD releases this week (detailed list): Flight, Celeste and Jesse Forever, Here Comes the Boom, House at the End of the Street, Hit & Run, In Our Nature, Little White Lies, The Coalition, Alex Cross, Deadfall, So Undercover, The Pill, Tyler Perry's Madea Gets a Job, You May Not Kiss the Bride, The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure, Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel, Harvard Park, Paul Williams Still Alive, Side by Side, Somewhere Between, The Pool, and Guns, Girls and Gambling. 

Interesting streaming releases include House of Cards, Tremors, Species, The Prophecy, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Top Gun, Top Secret, As Good as It Gets, Bad Boys, and Nacho Libre.

Netflix New Releases for January 29th, 2013

Here's the full list of new Netflix DVD releases this week (detailed list): Seven Psychopaths, The Cold Light of Day, Hotel Transylvania, All Superheroes Must Die, Parked, Citadel, Paranormal Activity 4, and Femme Fatales. 

Interesting streaming releases in the past week include Chariot of the Gods, Graham Chapman: Anatomy of a Liar, Jim Jefferies: Fully Functional, Death of a Superhero, The Giant Mechanical Man, Hansel and Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft, and Time Traveler.

Ken Florance, Netflix VP of Content Delivery, to Keynote Content Delivery Summit

Dan Rayburn on the Streaming Media Blog announced that Ken Florance, Netflix VP of Content Delivery, will keynote the Content Delivery Summit. 

Taking place Monday May 20th, at the Hilton hotel in NYC, the summit has become the go-to event to learn about the technology behind web, acceleration and media delivery infrastructure. Telcos, carriers, ISPs, MSOs, major content owners and CDNs all gather to present case studies on real-world deployments, see demos of new technology platforms and discuss business model considerations for web acceleration and media delivery.

During Netflix’s keynote, Ken will highlight the company’s Open Connect Content Delivery Network and provide insight into how it works and what the future holds for delivering video via the last mile.

Netflix Stock Gains 42% on Better Than Expected Earnings

Investors appear to be happy with Netflix's earnings and subscriber numbers yesterday, and the stock jumped 42% overnight, closing at 146.86. 

Disclosure: I do not own shares in Netflix.

via Inside Bay Area.

Netflix Hits 33 Global Million Streaming Customers & $945 Million in Revenue in Q4

Netflix ended Q4 with more than 33 million global subscribers (27 million domestic & 6 million international), and had a modest profit of $7.9 million on $945 million in revenue. 

Netflix Q4 results highlights include:

• Netflix added 2 million domestic and 1.8 million international streaming customers.
• Netflix lost only $105 million on the International business, less than expected because of higher than expected growth of international subscriptions and revenue.
• Netflix lost only 380,000 DVD subscribers in Q4, less than anticipated.
• Domestic streaming's contribution to profit is expected to surpass DVD in Q1.
• The letter notes that they have had "constructive conversations" with Carl Icahn, who owns 10% of Netflix.

Q1 2013 Forecast:

• 28.5 to 29.2 domestic streaming and 6.6 to 7.3 million international streaming customers.
• Domestic streaming profit of $122 - $130 million, and international streaming loss of $94 - $80 million.
• Net income of $0 to $14 million.

From the Q&A call at 3pm PST:

• Price Increase? Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: "We're happy at $7.99 and won't comment on the future."
• Streaming commitments: $5.6 billion, $2.5 billion on the books, $3.1 not.
• Regarding "Qwikster" fiasco: Hastings said that they are still on "probation."
• Profiles: Still testing new profiles feature, will launch sometime in 2013.
• House of Cards impact on subscriber additions: "Small benefit for Q1."

Netflix compared the top 200 shows on Netflix to content available on Amazon Prime and Hulu, and shared the results:

"More narrowly, Amazon Prime, Redbox Instant, and Hulu also offer low-cost streaming offerings, and they have some of the same content that Netflix has, as well as some unique content.   The more unique content they have (for example, “Battleground” and “Community” on Hulu, or “Falling Skies” and “The Closer” on Amazon Prime), the more they are a different service than ours.  To the degree they have some of the same content as Netflix, they are potentially a substitute for Netflix.  To examine this, we looked at the top 200 titles on Netflix:  our 100 most popular movies and our 100 most popular TV shows in Q4.  Of these 200, 113 are not on Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus or Redbox Instant. Of the 87 that are available on at least one of these services, Hulu Plus offers 27 of the 200; Amazon Prime 73 of the 200; and Redbox Instant 12 of the 200, with significant overlap in TV between Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime, and in movies between Amazon Prime and Redbox Instant.  In other words, when it comes to the most popular content with members on Netflix, none of these services are good substitutes to Netflix."

You can read Netflix's letter to shareholders on the Netflix Investor Relations website.

Netflix New Releases for January 22nd, 2013

Here's the full list of new Netflix DVD releases this week (detailed list): Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, Fat Kid Rules the World, Nature Calls, Abel's Field, Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, Keep the Lights On, Nobody Walks, Officer Down, The Paperboy, Beauty Is Embarrassing, Pina, Searching for Sugar Man, The Imposter, The Men Who Built America, Tai Chi Zero, and Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis. 

Interesting streaming releases in the past week include XIII, Primer, The Switch, Death Race 3: Inferno, Gravity, Lars and the Real Girl, Dreams of a Life, and The Good Doctor.

Netflix New Releases for January 15th, 2013

Here's the full list of new Netflix DVD releases (detailed list):  To Rome with Love, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, The Possession, Pitch Perfect, 16-Love, 17 Girls, About Cherry, Counterpunch, Talhotblond (2012), Branded, Love Me, Detropia, The Other Dream Team, 5 Broken Cameras, Farewell, My Queen, UFC 153: Silva vs. Bonnar, and UFC: Ultimate Submissions 2. 

Interesting streaming releaeses in the past week include Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, For Greater Glory, October Baby, Stoked, I Married a Mobster, Bloomberg Game Changers: Twitter, Guns, Girls and Gambling, and Painted Skin: The Resurrection.

Netflix New Releases for January 8th, 2013

Here's the full list of new Netflix DVDs this week (detailed list): Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden, The Bourne Legacy, Dredd, Ted, Frankenweenie, Ice Age: Continental Drift, That's What She Said, The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best, The Inbetweeners Movie, Game Change, Touchback, Jack & Diane, Now Is Good, Compliance, Samsara, Stone of Destiny, Midsomer Murders: Dark Secrets, Midsomer Murders: Death in the Slow Lane, Midsomer Murders: Echoes of the Dead, Midsomer Murders: The Oblong Murders, Sleep Tight, and Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!: Best Of Widget. 

Interesting streaming releases in the past week include Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Butter, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Man in the Iron Mask, The Usual Suspects, The Warriors, Wargames, The Untouchables, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Sahara, The Machinist, Escape from Alcatraz, The Hunt for Red October, and Pumpkin

Netflix Suffering Another Streaming Outage on New Years Eve

Update: TechCrunch reports that the outage only impacted the DVD website:

“We are experiencing some technical difficulty with the Netflix DVD Web site, which as a result may not be available for all members. Our engineers are working to address this issue. Netflix streaming is not impacted.”

Readers (and Down Right Now) are reporting troubles with Netflix streaming. Netflix also suffered a major streaming disruption on Christmas Eve. 

Is Netflix streaming working for you? I am able to stream movies, and I'm located on the East Coast. 

Netflix New Releases for January 1st, 2013

Here's the rather short list of new DVD releases this week (detailed list): Looper, Cosmopolis, The Trouble with Bliss, Beasts of the Southern Wild, and Little Birds. 

Interesting streaming releases this week include The West Wing, Masterpiece Mystery!: Wallander, The Lying Game, Nantucket Film Festival's Comedy Roundtable, lipe Esparza: They're Not Going to Laugh at You, and Jeff, Who Lives at Home.

Serious Netflix Streaming Outage on Christmas Eve

Update: Netflix on Facebook reports that Netflix streaming should be online again after a serious outage that lasted more than 12 hours. 

NewTeeVee reports that Amazon Prime was still available last night while Netflix Streaming was down, but we're on the East Coast and had trouble accessing Amazon Prime last night to view a movie. I agree with NewTeeVee that there are now alternatives to Amazon Web Services, and after an outage like this Netflix must at least be thinking about service providers that don't compete directly with them. 

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Netflix Streaming was down most of Christmas Eve for many customers, and the first official acknowledgment came from the NetflixHelps Twitter feed at 1pm PST. 

TechCrunch reports that the outage is due to problems with Amazon Web Services, as noted on Twitter by Netflix Cloud Architect Adrian Cockcroft. 

Did you experience a Netflix streaming outage on Christmas Eve?