Tickers in this Article: NFLX, DIS, DTV, AMZN, VZ Netflix
(Nasdaq:NFLX) announced at precisely 1:45 p.m. on December 4
that it had signed a multi-year licensing agreement with Disney
(NYSE:DIS) that gives it exclusive access to Disney's first-run
movies starting in 2016. Beating Pay TV to the punch, the
markets reacted favorably, instantly sending its stock up $4 and
another $7 throughout the afternoon. This is a game changer for
Netflix. Will it be enough to stem the tide and keep its stock
price moving ever higher towards triple digits? I think so.
Pay TV Michael Granberry, a reporter for the Dallas Morning
News, wrote a September article about first-run theatrical
releases opening the same day as pay-per-view. Specifically, he
was referring to Richard Gere's movie "Arbitrage," which DirecTV
(Nasdaq:DTV) was offering to its customers for $7.99 on the same
night it opened in movie theaters. Called "day and date
release," the first example of its use was in 2005 when Mark
Cuban's movie company Magnolia Pict