Netflix Basks in the British Sun

Netflix has NFLX has said that its UK launch has been very successful up to now, with a return to subscriber growth and 1 15 percent share price boost thanks to an enjoyable end to 2011. NFLX chief executive Reed Hastings said that Netflix UK has exceeded expectation, seeing subscriber growth far greater than seen when the company launched in Canada. According to Hastings, Natflix's main competition in Britain is BSkyB's Sky Go service rather than Amazon's LoveFilm. "In the UK our long-term competition will likely be Sky Go offering Sky Movies and Sky Atlantic on demand," he said. "Over the coming years, we hope to be able to grow large enough to outbid Sky for one or more major studio output deals, as we did this year for MGM." The company has not enjoyed the best of times of late, so the success in the UK is truly something to celebrate, despite the fact that Hastings claims the cost of investment in Britain, Ireland and Latin America will result in a loss of between $108 million and $118 million in 1Q12. Netflix expects a total global loss of $9 million - $27 million in the first quarter. That is one hell of a difference – $9 million to $$27 million. There is an $18 million difference there, and there does not seem to be explanation for that massive discrepancy. Still, according to the Guardian in the UK, investors have been pleased with Netflix's performance in 4Q11, a period which saw it add 610,000 U.S. subscribers. That is quite a comeback, following the loss of 800,000 subscribers in 3Q11 due to a much-publicized price hike. That achievement should not go unnoticed. The noise made when Netflix made the price hike and lost subscribers with apparent abandon was deafening. The nails were being hammered into Netflix's coffin and the obituaries were written. Those critics were premature. Not completely unjustified, but certainly premature. Benzinga's Louis Bedigian continues to be severely critical and has a very different point of view. In just one quarter, Netflix has regained three quarters of the amount of subscribers that it lost because of the price hike. That is truly impressive and, if we are going to slam a company when things go bad, then balance and context demands that we should be equally positive when an achievement such as this is made.