Netflix And Original Programming

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GigaOm: For Netflix, a Risky Bet on Original Programming: Netflix is reportedly in talks to score its first original programming, bidding against cable networks like HBO for the rights to a new project called House of Cards that would star Kevin Spacey and be directed by David Fincher. ..... ected, that still put the price tag for a single series at about half the amount that Netflix has been paying for entire libraries of long-tail content ...... Instead of relying on premium cable networks like Starz and Epix to stream their on-demand content, or waiting years for popular titles to fall out of the pay TV window, Netflix bet big on a deal with indie studio Relativity Media that would give it exclusive access to the indie studio’s movies. It looks like that bet will pay off, as The Fighter, with Academy Award winners Christian Bale and Melissa Leo, will soon appear exclusively on Netflix, rather than going to one of the cable networks....... The overwhelming sentiment in Hollywood seems to be that Netflix will get the scraps that no one else wants. “What used to be called ‘reruns’ on television is now called Netflix,” Comcast CEO Brian Roberts told the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago. Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes has been equally dismissive in the past, saying that he believes Netflix will be a place for low-value content that networks and studios can’t syndicate anywhere else...... One of the arguments that cable networks and distributors like to make about the effect that Netflix — and online video in general — has on the broader TV ecosystem is that by disrupting current business models, Netflix is essentially destroying the engine through which high-quality content is created. ..... could be good news for the future of what we think of as “TV programming.”

Netflix always needed to be about original programming. Netflix needed to be about indie movies. Netflix needed to release movies. As in, you make a movie, and you release it on Netflix. Like Apple has the iPhone app store, Netflix needs to become that place where you place your movies once you make them. If people watch your movies, you make money.

The idea of having to beg old movie houses to run their old movies has been weird. First of all, they don't seem to get the technology. Should be the case that business models chase technologies, but instead we have technologies on a lookout for business models.
Image via CrunchBase
Better late than ever. I am so glad Netflix is getting into original programming. This is the way it always needed to be.

More Sam Walton Than Bill Gates

My startup is a tech startup, sure. But it is first and foremost a high touch startup. Face time is key to my operations to be.

I keep thinking in terms of companies like Zappos. Zappos sells phone calls, not shoes. Customer service is key to how Zappos rolls. I also end up thinking about the offline components of companies like GroupOn.

Walmart early on became a major user of computer technology. Walmart collects so much data. Every transaction is valuable data. And you can only hope to make meaningful sense of all that data if you employ computers. So that's there.

But in microfinance, you can do all the tech trick in the parlor, but it still boils down to face time. The most precious time you will spend with your customers will be in person. Technology helps, but technology can't be front and center, that space is reserved for flesh and blood people.

Hack Of A Job

Solution: Don't use public wi-fi. Especially when you have half a million followers on Twitter. Use only secure wi-fi. Better still, carry your own. Carry one of those phones.

Ashton Kutcher's Twitter account was similarly hacked at TED. TED! Think about that. Some millionaire hacker must have did that.

Looks Like FoodSpotting Rocked Austin
Ashton Kutcher's Twitter account hacked | ZDNet

Music: Some Soraya Darabi Choices (7)

Music: Some Soraya Darabi Choices (1)

Looks Like FoodSpotting Rocked Austin

I am most definitely going to Austin next year. It's a done deal. A startup I have been rooting for - FoodSpotting - looks like had a field day Sunday. 4,000 showing up for one event: it is called the street smart way of becoming the number one event at the Kumbh Mela of tech. Were they the number one event? I don't know. But 4,000 is a large number, no matter how you measure it.

There were so many launches and relaunches this year at SXSW, this magic number - 4,000 people - alone gives FoodSpotting an edge. They get to go home and claim this year - SXSW 2011 - was FoodSpotting's year. If those 4,000 people downloaded the app as they munched, this is going to be the year the service crosses the 2-3 million download mark. Three million would be half way to FourSquare. Two million would be on par with Instagram.

Offline Mode

I have been offline several days in a row now. Glad to be back online. Thank God for scheduled posting, I have still managed to blog daily.

I stayed away from Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Quora, AVC, Hacker News, TechMeme, Gmail, Google News, the whole nine yards. It was an experience. I missed the internet bad. But I also learned it is really important to be with people when you are with them, like really be with them. I used to be really good with it, and I am still not someone who is permanently glued to the smartphone when out and about - I take the time to smell the roses - but I still was not doing as well as I wanted to do.

I have some work cut out for me.

Time spent offline made me want to try out a phase of staying away from the usual suspect sites for a while to focus on only blogging about my startup idea. Time spent offline made me want to churn out a 100 page autobiography to feed to Amazon Kindle self publishing. Do you think people will buy? I am tempted to give it a try. I think I have a story to tell.

I am glad to be online. But staying offline several days in a row was a necessary exercise.

(Blogging live from the Apple store on 59th Street)

Music: Some Soraya Darabi Choices (6)

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Music: Some Soraya Darabi Choices (5)

Music: Some Soraya Darabi Choices (1)

Music: Some Soraya Darabi Choices (4)

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Speaking Invitation

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeA few days back I kinda complained about not having been invited to sit on a panel at SXSW. Well, looks like I have a speaking invitation somewhere else. I was only joking, people.

Like Mark Pincus said once, when you become successful and visible as an entrepreneur, you end up with all sorts of speaking requests, panel requests, media interview requests. Often times you have to choose between making those appearances and getting actual work done.

Well, I don't have that problem yet, just like I don't have an inbox problem either. I just have been complaining on Fred Wilson's behalf.

Notice how this email has been composed like I have a personal assistant who reads my emails for me. I don't have one of those. You can talk to me directly, that's fine.