Call this take two on life with my brand new Smart TV. Hard to believe it’s only been a week, because it has taken me so many places. But the experience is getting a little more expensive, and I can’t help but wonder where the yellow brick road will take us.
Remember those wondrous early days of the internet when someone christened it The Information Highway? That was roughly 20 years ago, the same time that a Boston man named Reed Hastings started a little outfit called Netflix. It began as a website where you could rent or buy movies on DVD. Reed and his pals would send them to you by snail mail! I’m betting they didn’t wear jackets and ties at work, or even shoes.
Fast forward to 2017. Snail mail was replaced by live streaming online. Mr. Hastings is now 56, and his net worth is listed as $1.9 billion. I’m betting he still wears whatever he wants. His company is turning out more original content than the old Hollywood moguls like Jack Warner and Louis B. Mayer, but the competition is faster and more fierce. Jeff Bezos and the folks at Amazon are chasing hard, and others like Disney are testing the waters.
I can’t help but wonder how soon conventional TV will just fade away. When I first signed on to Netflix just three years ago, what an incredible deal for a movie and TV buff. Less than $9 a month gave us virtually unlimited content, and they kept adding new goodies every day.
Binge watching became popular in the early days of House of Cards, before Donald Trump spoiled things by creating a reality show at the White House that was more entertaining.
This week, Netflix told us that prices were going up, ever so slightly, but only in Canada, eh? Any guesses as to what Reed Hastings’ net worth might be a year from now, especially if he sells the company to one of his competitors.
Pardon me, my Smart TV is calling.
I’m Roger Currie
