28 July 2008 11:02 AM, PDT | Studio Briefing - Film News | See recent Studio Briefing - Film News news »
Netflix appears to be thriving despite of the current recession -- or possibly because of it. The online video renter saw its subscriber rate rise 25 percent from its year-ago rate growth. Some analysts attributed the growth to people looking for less expensive entertainment as the current recession grips the country. Other analysts suggested that Netflix may have been helped by the introduction of a streaming service in May that allows users to view movies on their TV sets with the aid of an inexpensive settop box, the Netflix Player, developed by Roku. Net income for the company rose only 3.8 percent to $26.6 million from $25.6 million, leading analysts to suspect that some Netflix customers may be downgrading their subscriptions to receive fewer movies each month than they had previously. »
