Hacking NetFlix

Netflix & Miramax to Distribute 'Reprise'

Variety is reporting that Miramax and Netflix's Red Envelope Entertainment division will be distributing the Norwegian film Reprise.

Shocked to discover that Norwegian shorts writer-director Joachim Trier's stylishly hip feature debut, which earned strong reviews at Sundance and "New Directors, New Films" in 2007, didn't have distribution, Rudin persuaded Miramax to release the story about two fledgling novelists who respond to early literary success in radically different ways.

Miramax (partnering with Netflix) will open "Reprise" in limited engagements in New York and L.A. on May 16.

Netflix Adds Watch Instantly Queue

Netflix added a second queue to organize your Watch Instantly titles. Brent on the Netflix Community Blog explains the new Instant queue feature:

Today we added an additional Queue to your Netflix account - the Instant Queue. This Queue lets you keep a list of the movies & TV episodes you want to watch instantly on your PC. We’ve set it up for you by adding all of the titles from your DVD queue that are available to watch instantly.

Of course you can also add titles to the Queue yourself. Find titles that are available to watch instantly by clicking the Browse Instant tab on the Netflix website, or by looking for the blue Play buttons across other parts of the site. Click a Play button to watch instantly on your compatible PC, or mouse over the Play button and click Add to Instant Queue to save the title to your Queue and watch it later.

One nice feature is the availability column, which shows when Watch Instantly titles will expire. Here's a screen capture of mousing over the "Play" button, which enables you to add the movie to your Instant queue.

What do you think of the Instant queue?

Thanks to Chris, Sean, and Leigh for sending this in.

Netflix Hiring Sr. Software Engineer -- Open APIs

Bill Scott has posted two job openings on his blog, including a Sr. Software Engineer -- Open APIs. The job description confirms that Netflix is working on an open API:

Michael Hart, our Director of Open APIs and Community is looking for an Open APIs Sr. Software Engineer. This is an incredible role. Netflix is in the midst of opening up a suite of developer APIs and you can help make this happen. Get in now and shape the way developers all over hack and mashup Netflix!

What would you do with the Netflix API?

Netflix's Watch Instantly on Xbox 360: "...Deal is Happening"

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter is quoted in Forbes:

"[I] am confident this deal is happening," says Pachter, who follows the videogame space. He's betting one of Netflix's mystery partners is a console manufacturer--most likely Microsoft. "It would drive 360 sales and would make Xbox Live more robust for existing users," he notes.

via CrunchGear.

Netflix 'Throttling' Class Action Lawsuit Settlement Upheld

Reuters reports that the appeals court has upheld the settlement in the Netflix 'throttling' class action lawsuit:

In a ruling issued on Monday, the appellate court rejected the four subscribers' claims that attorneys fees awarded by the trial court were "excessive," the way that subscribers were notified of the terms was "deficient," and that the settlement should have consisted of a cash award rather than a free month of Netflix rentals.

The original lawsuit, filed in San Francisco state court by Netflix subscriber Frank Chavez, accused the Los Gatos, California-based company of delaying delivery of DVDs by mail to heavier users who are less profitable, a practice that came to be known as "throttling."

Netflix customers that applied for the settlement before the deadline will receive a free month or a service level upgrade (3-out to 4-out, for example). More information is available online at the Netflix Settlement website.

Thanks to Xin for sending this in.

Netflix Has 4 Watch Instantly Hardware Partners; Blu-Ray Premium Pricing & More

Update: Seeking Alpha has posted a transcript of the Netflix Q1 2008 Earnings Webcast.

There were several interesting announcements by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings during the Q1 2008 Earnings Webcast today:

Sometime this year Netflix will charge a "modest monthly premium" for Blu-ray rentals ("Consumers are used to paying more for high definition content in every other channel...").

Netflix now has 9,000 titles available for Watch Instantly.

There are now 4 companies developing hardware for Watch Instantly, and 3 of them are major companies who sell "millions of devices." LG is the only announced partner, but we should hear more about these deals in the coming quarters.

Netflix has always used the Bay Area to measure Netflix's potential, and Bay Area household penetration has increased to 18.6% (despite TiVo, PPV, etc.). Approximately 7% of U.S. households now subscribe to Netflix.

Netflix is using lower prices to add customers, and will be spending less on marketing.

Customer usage is down, due to the aging customer base and plan usage.

Netflix Now Has 100,000 DVD & 8,000 Watch Instantly Titles

You would think that Netflix would issue a press release when they passed the 100,000 DVD mark, but they quietly updated the "Press Kit: About Netflix page with the new count:

Netflix, Inc. is the world's largest online movie rental service, offering 7.5 million subscribers access to 100,000 DVD titles plus a growing library of over 8,000 full-length movies and television episodes that are available for instant watching on their PCs.

Blockbuster lists 80,000 available DVD titles on the Blockbuster website, but only offer downloads for rental or purchase through the Movielink service they purchased last year. Blockbuster is expected to add movie downloads to Blockbuster.com, but details and timing have not been announced.

Netflix Hires Anna Lee To New Supply Chain Post

Video Business reports that Netflix has hired former Sonopress VP Anna Lee to head of supply chain development and replication.

"Anna will represent our company's interests in the complex and dynamic intersection where we come together with studios and replicators,” said Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos, to whom Lee reports. “Her experience and technical expertise in the world of physical and digital media will be of great value to Netflix as we continue to drive change in the industry."

Netflix To Buy Back $150 Million in Stock

Netflix announced that they are going to buy back $150 million in stock during 2008, in addition to the $100 million buyback they just completed.

Netflix Working on Open API To Foster 3rd Party Applications

Matt discovered an interesting job posting on Craigslist for Senior Software Engineer— Open API’s:

THE OPPORTUNITY

Today Netflix has, within our base of almost 7 million customers, more than 1 million customers who participate in a vibrant and rapidly growing community of movie lovers. Netflix is committed to nurturing that community as well as embarking on a focused effort to integrate Netflix's service and community into existing web sites and social networks around the internet.

We have tools and resources not frequently seen in “start up” companies, but the Developer Web Services team at Netflix is exactly that – an incubated start-up, with many of the same attributes but many excellent benefits.

The Developer Web Services team’s charter is to enable 3rd parties to integrate aspects of the Netflix service into their own applications. To support this goal, the team is developing a Netflix Web Service API for 3rd party developers and is seeking a senior web engineer to contribute to the effort.

If you are into REST API’s and supporting the development of mashups and widgets, this is the job for you. The successful candidate will have strong object-oriented design and development expertise and experience developing highly scalable, multi-tier, web systems. The person fulfilling this role will work closely with other internal development teams and support external developers, so strong interpersonal skills are a must. Experience developing RESTful API’s is a plus.

There are a number of excellent 3rd party programs for Netflix, but they are "hacks" and are not using a formal API to access the Netflix website. This could enable the development of programs, widgets, mashups, websites and more. It'll be interesting to see what Netflix includes in the API, and what developers do with it.