Netflix and the Brooklyn Library: Doing a deal for free movies? - Rumor-Mongering and Shoddy Journalism

According to The New York Post, the “Brooklyn Public Library hopes to team up with Netflix to deliver DVDs and videos to anyone in the borough with a library card,” for free. As a movie watcher, I think it’s a lovely idea. As a realist, I think this doesn’t stand a chance in hell.

Why would Netflix agree to this? Sure, they could get paid as the delivery mechanism for each movie sent to a library user, but it would actively canibalize their own subscriber base, potentially to a large degree. Seems like stupid risk to me. Any possible benefit they could gain as a service provider to the library would likely be more than out-stripped as a cost against their subscriber-revenue. And to top it off, the Netflix spokesman doesn’t know anything about the deal.

This story is a dud. It’s about the Brooklyn Public Library creating a wish list of things they’d like to do, and one of the ideas leaking . The New York Post should be ashamed of posting this as a story. It would have been more valuable being reported as a rumor and then speculating on why it might/might not work. Hey wait, that’s just what I just did.