Hacking NetFlix

Small Number of Netflix DVD Customers Experiencing Mail Delivery Delays

A few readers have written to Netflix's Joris Evers told HackingNetflix:

What may be causing some of the noise around delivery is recent changes within the USPS which have caused some members to move form 1 day mail service to 2 day mail service. This not only impacts Netflix, but all mail in general being processed in those service areas. This is only affecting a small group of our members and we are making changes to our transportation network to minimize the impact of these USPS changes.

Evers also said that Netflix has not closed any shipping centers, and that they have about 55 in service.

Are you seeing a delay in DVD shipments?

Netflix Has 39 Emmy-nominated Shows on Streaming

Netflix announced that they have 39 Emmy-nominated shows available for streaming, including several exclusives: Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and The Walking Dead (all great shows). 

If you’re looking to laugh, we have the most innovative comedies of the year, including Portlandia, 30 Rock, How I Met Your Mother, Louie, American Dad, Parks & Rec, and the eternally entertaining Saturday Night Live. If you’re more in the mood for a drama, check out Downton Abbey, Damages, Bones, Sherlock, Parenthood, Luther, and the one that's always hitting a high note, Glee. You can also stream some of the best non-fiction series including Mythbusters, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and Deadliest Catch.Finally, for the kids who love to watch Netflix, there are lots of great Emmy-nominated shows including Wizards of Waverly Place, Phineas & Ferb, iCarly, and Good Luck Charlie.

If you' re looking for something to watch on streaming, this list is a great place to start.

Netflix Execs Rendich & Vorich Land at Kid Clothing Company thredUP

TechCrunch reports that ex-Netflix execs John Voris and Andy Rendich are both involved with kid clothing company thredUP.

The company is also announcing the addition of a new executive, Chief Operations Officer John Voris, formerly VP of Operations Engineering at Netflix, and new board member Andy Rendich, former Chief Service and Operations Officer at Netflix.

Voris has spent over a decade on automation and process engineering at a number of companies, including also Shutterfly and Cisco. Says thredUP CEO James Reinhart,  Vorbis and Rendich are “incredible assets” who know what it takes to build “a world-class operations infrastructure on a national scale.”

Netflix Releases Source Code for Cloud Testing App

Netflix's announced on the Tech Blog that they have released the source code for Chaos Monkey, a tool Netflix uses for testing cloud-based apps.

Chaos Monkey is a service which runs in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) that seeks out Auto Scaling Groups (ASGs) and terminates instances (virtual machines) per group. The software design is flexible enough to work with other cloud providers or instance groupings and can be enhanced to add that support. The service has a configurable schedule that, by default, runs on non-holiday weekdays between 9am and 3pm. In most cases, we have designed our applications to continue working when an instance goes offline, but in those special cases that they don't, we want to make sure there are people around to resolve and learn from any problems. With this in mind, Chaos Monkey only runs within a limited set of hours with the intent that engineers will be alert and able to respond.

via TechCrunch.

Netflix New Releases for July 31st, 2012

Here's the full list of DVD releases this week (detailed list): Hatfields & McCoys, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, The Hunter, Hijacked, Detention, LOL, ATM, Last Days Here, UFC 145, Le Havre, and Lula, the Son of Brazil.

Interesting streaming releases in the past week include Captain America: The First Avenger, Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies (not the mainstream release), Decisions, Bullhead, Telstar, and DreamWorks How to Train Your Dragon Legends.

Netflix Returns to Profitability in Q2 2012 with 25.7 Million Global Streaming Customers

Netflix announced that they have returned to profitability in Q2, expect to remain profitable in Q3, but will show a loss in Q4 as they enter another international market.

The Q2 2012 numbers:

Domestic streaming subscribers (paid): 22.69 million
International streaming subscribers (paid): 3.02 million
DVD customers (paid): 9.96 million
Global revenue: $889 million
Global net income: $6 million 

On the streaming war in Europe:

6 months ago, we launched Netflix in the UK and Ireland, and today we are one million members strong. We believe we have pulled ahead of LOVEFiLM in every important streaming-related metric. Going forward, competing effectively with Sky is our core and substantial challenge. 

On recovering from the price increase last year:

Our reputation with our members and their likelihood to recommend the Netflix service is steadily improving. Our original thesis was three years to full brand recovery (subsequent to the DVD-related price increases last summer), and that seems correct so far. 

Regarding the domestic competition:

We have yet to see HuluPlus or Amazon Prime Instant Video gain meaningful traction relative to our viewing hours, but as we continue to build a domestic profit stream they are likely to increase their efforts to gain viewing share. Redbox Instant by Verizon, once they launch, will face a big challenge to break into the top 3 of subscription streaming services. 

Netflix New Releases for July 24th, 2012

Here's the full list of new Netflix DVD releases this week (detailed list): Mirror Mirror, Boss, Wanderlust, Bathory, Meeting Evil, On the Inside, The Deep Blue Sea, Untouchable: The Drew Peterson Story, Brake, Masterpiece Mystery!: Endeavour, Footnote, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, My Way, Shanghai, and The Amazing World of Gumball. 

Interesting streaming releases include In the Land of Blood and Honey, The Fairy, Crazy on the Outside, Snow on Tha Bluff, 10 Items or Less (seasons 1 & 2), Creature, Mutant Girls Squad, and Dust.

Netflix #22 on E! Online's 100 Best Things in Pop Culture

Netflix was #22 on E! Online's 100 Best Things in Pop Culture, and I love the reason Netflix streaming made the list: 

Above all, it's about living an approximation of the dream life as promised by that TV commercial from the turn-of-the-21 century, the one with the tumbleweed motel that featured "every movie ever made in any language, anytime, day or night."

Now, of course, Netflix doesn't stream "every movie ever made." It doesn't even stream every movie Howard Stern ever made, and he's only made one. That's why we said its service offers an approximation of the dream life. But still, you have to admit, it's pretty close—pretty, awfully, tantalizingly close. Anytime, day or night, you can watch anything, almost.

I still remember that commercial, and unfortunately we're still a long way away from being able to "watch every movie ever made." Someday...

IrokoTV, The Netflix of Africa, Raises Another $2 Million in Funding

Forbes reports that Nigerian streaming company IrokoTV has raised another $2 million, on top of a recent $8 million round.

Barely 3 months after raising $8million in venture capital from New York private equity and hedge fund Tiger Global Management, Iroko Partners, the world’s largest online distributor of Nigerian movies, has just closed on a $2 million round of funding from Swedish-based Kinnevik, an early investor in group buying site Groupon.

Iroko Partners is the holding company of IrokoTV, a Nigerian movie streaming service which has consistently been dubbed ‘The Netflix of Africa’. IrokoTV is YouTube’s biggest partner in Africa, boasting over 150 million views in 2011. Iroko Partners also enjoys content distribution deals with Dailymotion, iTunes, Amazon and Vimeo. The company was founded by Jason Njoku, one of 10 Young African Millionaires To Watch this year.

Netflix CCO Ted Sarandos to Keynote Power Lawyers Breakfast

Hollywood Reporter: Netflix Chief Content Officer will keynote the Hollywood Reporter Power Lawyers Breakfast on July 18th.

At the breakfast event, Sarandos, who has made waves in the entertainment industry by bringing Netflix into the content creation market, will lead a Q&A session moderated by THR news director Matthew Belloni. Fricklas will receive the Raising the Bar Award for an in-house lawyer who has made a lasting impact on Hollywood and the entertainment industry.

"Michael Fricklas was chosen for this year's Raising the Bar Award because his work for Viacom has distinguished the company on several legal issues important to Hollywood, especially the war on piracy," says Belloni, who oversees THR's award-winning legal coverage with senior editor Eriq Gardner and launched the Power Lawyers issue and event in 2007.