Netflix CEO Reed Hastings made clear his video streaming service's global ambitions during his chat at the D9: All Things Digital conference in southern California.
Thus far, Netflix's international reach extends to a launch in Toronto, Canada, mostly as a proof of concept for high-quality streaming video delivery. Hastings said the company plans on rolling it out to a second country in the second half of 2011, but refused to share exactly which one. He did offer that China is important but difficult.
Netflix faces competitions on virtually all fronts, but Hastings said very little of it is direct competition. Netflix competitors include cable, networks, satellites, telco, video subscription services, and even rental services like AppleTV. Instead of direct competition for eyeballs, Hastings said that, "in the long term we're all competing for time-share and wallet share." In other words, Netflix customers use the streaming service in particular to augment their other viewing habits. This often happens because Netflix does not typically offer the newest content on its streaming service. Hastings defended Netflix's $8-a-month unlimited streaming service saying, Netflix's streaming service: "[you] can't have all the new stuff and have the $8-a-month price we have."
The company's success has actually become a bit of a burden as studios demand more and more money to re-up content licenses and, in some instances, Netflix has not been able to access fresh content because of costs. Hastings said, for instance, that it's Netflix's preference to run prior-season shows from the likes of HBO and Showtime, but have not been successful because, "the check's not big enough."
Interestingly, Hastings did not list tablets like the Apple iPad as the biggest revolution in his business. Instead, he lists Wi-Fi-enabled TVs and the exponential growth of fiber optic bandwidth as the two biggest and most important tech revolutions for Netflix future growth.
Likewise, the Netflix CEO does not see tablets like the iPad as the most important device for streaming movie consumption. His call? Laptops because "they're so ubiquitous... but all the devices are growing and we're agnostic," added Hastings.
Netflix notably lacks a strong social component, but Hastings promised they're working on a five-year plan to integrate Facebook with the right privacy control and social experience.