1. 1. What 5 Other Companies Say About... Image source: Netflix.
2. 2. DISH Network chairman Charlie Ergen: Image source: DISH. "Netflix is the most powerful content aggregator in the world today. And there's nobody that's even close. "I don't think there's anything they couldn't buy that they wanted today. "On original content, for example, they pay a fixed price. And as their subs grow, their cost per customer goes down. "So, when we buy something, we pay a variable cost and we pay the same for each customer."
3. 3. In other words... The traditional broadcasting model that DISH runs can never match Netflix's economies of scale. Even Charlie Ergen will admit this. Will he change his business model accordingly? I wouldn't be surprised.
4. 4. Lionsgate TV chairman Kevin Beggs Image source: Lionsgate. "So for us on the original side, it's a huge opportunity and I think it's putting pressure on international buyers who are responding to Netflix. "They're coming up with their own SVOD strategies or bolstering their original programming lineups, and many of the international buyers we are talking to in France and Germany are looking for English-speaking series. "And they are looking for kind of name-brand show runners or US distribution partners and development partners that know how to deliver shows that will work for their air." "On the originals front, it's really a growth business. Obviously Netflix is a clear category leader but that creates a lot of opportunity for competitors like Hulu and Amazon to catch up.
5. 5. A two-way street Struck by Netflix's global expansion, international media giants now want to expand in the opposite direction. Both Netflix and Lionsgate, as well as other studios and broadcast portals, can try to catch that lightning in a bottle. Will Netflix get first dibs on top-shelf content from Germany and France? Mayhap so. Will that content also work in new markets such as America, Australia, Japan, and Brazil? Time will tell, assuming that Netflix decides to experiment with this content backdraft.
6. 6. Cablevision advisor Wilt Hildenbrand "If Netflix is running well on the local area network, then HBO and everything else should be running just as well. I mean, Netflix is the barometer. "Netflix certainly has a direct connection. "The benefits of direct connect takes the Internet out of the equation and just uses our local network -- the pipe going to your house to deliver the service" Image source: Cablevision.
7. 7. Lessons learned: Any media publisher can set up direct connections in service provider data centers. Netflix has no monopoly on this practice. Yet, Netflix streams can often outperform digital video from other companies, as it did to an analyst attending Cablevision's earnings call There's more secret sauce behind high-quality video streams than you might think. Which means, copying the Netflix model is deceptively difficult.
8. 8. Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg Image source: Wikimedia Commons. "We continue to have just an outstanding relationship with Netflix. They have been an incredible partner for us and we are actively pursuing the future of that relationship to the degree it suits their needs. "We don't know what their needs will be going forward. And so we're prepared to fill those. "To the extent that their needs change, we need to be ready to capitalize on that. "So if they want more content, we need to be prepared to scale up and to produce it. "If they want less content, we need to make sure that we have buyers through other channels out there."
9. 9. Bending over backwards Katzenberg stands ready to adjust to whatever Netflix wants and needs from his company. It's clear who wears the pants in this relationship, and it isn't Dreamworks Animation. Now, Dreamworks is a longtime Netflix partner, and the business connection runs deep. Can Netflix command this much loyalty from other studios? Probably not yet, in most cases. Ask again in a couple of years. The answer may be different then.
10. 10. TeleTech CEO Ken Tuchman Image source: TeleTech. "I'll go on record saying that to anybody: There is not a single client we have that is not in a mass panic. "They are looking at what's happening to companies, they're looking at an old traditional model of, let's just say cable, and then they're looking at Netflix. "And they are looking at what the service and support model is of Netflix and how frictionless it is and what the service and support model is of, let's just say, a traditional utility or cable. "And they're realizing that if they don't get their service mode to be more like Netflix, they're not going to exist."
11. 11. The big takeaway: Netflix is more than just another competitor in the crowded media sector. In many ways, the company is a next- generation role model and a threat to traditional business practices. "Evolve or die," business process optimizer TeleTech says to panic-stricken customers. That's exactly the right idea.
12. 12. When cable falters, you don't want to miss out on these 3 companies that are positioned to benefit. Click here for their names. (Hint: They're not the ones you'd think!)