NETFLIX NATIONS

“tele-vision”: seeing at a distance. (Page 9)

Netflix, the world’s largest subscription video-on-demand service. (Page 10)

This book is the outcome of those many class discussions, (Page 11)

One of the keynote speakers was the CEO and cofounder of Netflix, Reed Hastings. (Page 15)

“Today,” said Hastings, “I am delighted to announce that while we have been here on stage here at CES we switched Netflix on in Azerbaijan, in Vietnam, in India, in Nigeria, in Poland, in Russia, in Saudi Arabia, in Singapore, in South Korea, in Turkey, in Indonesia, and in 130 new countries.… Today, right now, you are witnessing the birth of a global TV network.” (Page 15)

“No more waiting. No more watching on a schedule that’s not your own. No more frustration. Just Netflix.” (Page 15)

This book takes the international rollout of Netflix as the starting point for a wider investigation into the global geography of online television distribution. (Page 17)

Internet television does not replace legacy television in a straightforward way; instead, it adds new complexity to the existing geography of distribution. (Page 19)

Recall that broadcast television evolved as a hybrid medium combining prerecorded material, live programming, movies, short-form programming, and advertisements. (Page 24)

The company was founded in California in 1997 by a direct-sales executive (Marc Randolph) and a Stanford-educated entrepreneur (Reed Hastings). (Page 26)

Unlike YouTube and Facebook, Netflix distributes only professionally produced content rather than user-generated content. (Page 27)

Netflix’s fundamental vision of entertainment is a personalized experience built around the individual consumer/family unit, equipped with their own credit card and data profiles, to be enjoyed in private spaces. (Page 118)