Netflix Lands the Coen Brothers’ Western TV Series
Netflix is such an interesting business.<p>They have far and away the broadest streaming distribution (75% of it!) in the USA (1) which is a market that already 53% saturated.<p>And the bull case guys point to international subscription growth - which is still in its infancy - as the reason to hold Netflix forever. (2)<p>They have much lower infrastructure costs then the previous cable providers without having to build the pipes.<p>But they also don't benefit from the built in government / monopoly protections that came with that investment in the distribution platform.<p>So in terms of long game how do they protect themselves?<p>Own the content.<p>Disney pulling their rug out earlier this week underscores how fucked Netflix is as just a distributor.<p>So if, in the end, distribution becomes the new "dumb pipes" at what point do the content providers pull the judo flip and control the distribution and the margin?<p>Disney again, case in point.<p>So do we underwrite Netflix's future - aka their current 227 PE! - in their ability to execute on the content side?<p>(1) <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/10/netflix-reaches-75-of-u-s-streaming-service-viewers-but-youtube-is-catching-up/" rel="nofollow">https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/10/netflix-reaches-75-of-u-s-...</a><p>(2) <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/08/buy-netflix-because-its-international-subs-will-nearly-double-piper.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/08/buy-netflix-because-its-inte...</a>