Philippines VPN Netflix

However, Netflix may be able to defray this direct competition.  In June of 2003, Netflix was granted a patent on their business model for DVD rental.  Wal-Mart, Blockbuster, and any other potential competitors will have to design a model substantially different from the Netflix model unless Netflix decides to license out the patent rights.   Among over 100 elements of the business model, the patent gives Netflix intellectual property protection over the way that a customer sets up his or her rental list and the way the company sends the DVD's. However, imitators are not the only competition.  Pay-per-view, premium cable, and Video on Demand seek to serve the in-home on-demand movie market.  These services also serve to the "stay-in" crowd by allowing entertainment selection without having to leave the house.  Pay-per-view and premium cable are available to anyone with cable, satellite, or digital service; as of 2000 about 75% of households that owned televisions subscribed to a cable service8.  However, cable and pay-per-view are constrained in their selection to viewers, and the selections are not interactive: they cannot be paused or replayed and do not offer the bonus features of a DVD.  On-line video rental services, such as Movielink, offer a limited number of films for download to home computer.  Critics of such services say that they are too slow to download and argue that most people will not want to watch a movie on their computer.  Forwardthinking proponents argue that as the line between home entertainment and computers continues to blur, and as more homes get broadband, the online video rental services will gain popularity.  Video-on-Demand has attracted a lot of attention, offering a wide selection of films that can be downloaded to a television set via a set-top box.  However, the technology required for this service is costly and not widely available, limiting the market. As broadband becomes more prevalent and the cost of set-top boxes decreases, video on demand is expected to gain ground in the on-demand entertainment market.  Netflix's Reed Hastings acknowledges the appeal of going digital, but notes that while every household has postal service, very few have broadband.  Also, delivery costs on downloadable DVD-quality movies can be more than $30, as compared to the 72-cent roundtrip cost of the current model.  But as the costs of digital delivery drop, Hastings says, "in five to ten years, we'll have some downloadables as well as DVDs.  By having both, we'll offer a full service."10