Netflix boss Reed Hastings caused a ripple of excitement in TV news circles with his answer to a question during Wednesday’s earnings call interview.
21 minutes into the 43 minute interview, Re/code’s Peter Kafka asked if Netflix is contemplating moving into news. “We’re definitely being more adventurous with the genres we’re going into,” said chief content officer Ted Sarandos, citing Chelsea Handler‘s talk show moving to Netflix, a first for the service.
CEO Hastings then turned to Sarandos and asked: “What’s the likelihood we compete directly with Vice in the next two years?”
“Probably high,” Sarandos answered, without giving specifics.
A Netflix rep clarified that neither Sarandos nor Hastings intended to suggest the streaming service was attempting to get into the “reporting and live news business.”
Interesting: Netflix PR is now clarifying Sarandos/Hastings comments regarding their interest in news: "Not going into the reporting…" 1/2
— Andrew Wallenstein (@awallenstein) October 14, 2015
and live news business." Meaning all Sarandos was really referring to was the documentaries and talk shows where Netflix is already active.
— Andrew Wallenstein (@awallenstein) October 14, 2015