Netflix chief eyes a slice of broadband subscriptions

Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings floated the idea that online video providers should get a cut of the subscriptions paid to cable and phone companies since customers sign up in part to access Netflix services.

"We haven't yet said [to broadband providers], 'Of your $40 [per month] broadband [service], we are 30 percent of the traffic, so we want 30 percent of the revenue,'" he said. "We haven't done that, [so] there is still a good relationship." "With Netflix creating so much value for ISPs — driving broadband adoption and higher broadband speed tiers, at what point does Netflix demand a share of an ISP's monthly subscription fees — what we will effectively call, retrans 2.0?" BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield wrote. "Netflix would essentially be creating a dual revenue stream model, where they are being paid by both the ISP and the consumer on a monthly basis."