The Netflix Business Model

Good morning.  As planned, I am here writing an entry on a scheduled day for the third time in a row.  It's okay, you can hold your applause, but I appreciate it...  :)  I am going to hit you with another ramble as I almost nervously await writing Friday's blog entry, whose subject will be my Super Bowl prediction.  I am a little antsy about my Super Bowl prediction after hitting so close on the conference championship games.  To give you a quick recap, I predicted that the Giants would defeat the 49ers 23-21 in the NFC Championship Game (actual score:  Giants 20  49ers  17).  I also predicted that the Ravens would beat the Patriots 24-20 in the AFC Championship Game (actual score:  Patriots 23  Ravens 20  -  the Ravens probably win 27-23 if Lee Evans holds onto a touchdown pass).  My scores were not only in the neighborhood, but it's like they were in the same house...  :)  I have two more days to worry about the Super Bowl anyway...  In case you haven't seen the current lines, the Patriots are favored by 2 1/2 or 3 points using the sportsbooks that I look at online (Caesars-Hilton, MGM-Mirage, and the Station Casinos - all in Las Vegas).  The current over/under on the game is 54 1/2 or 55 points.  While we're here, I thought that I would pass along a quote that I read on facebook yesterday.  "I just saw on television where a Newsweek poll found that only 8% of facebook users like the new timeline feature that will soon be made mandatory.  I don't blame facebook for ignoring this negative feedback since doing so worked out so well for Netflix.."  Okay, well I read that quote after I typed it...  :)  Facebook has a stock offering on the horizon, and it seems that they are going down the same path that Netflix did.  It's not that facebook charges its users any fees for its service, but they just seem bound and determined to make people angry.  For those of you who aren't Netflix users and haven't already heard the story, last year they decided to raise their rates despite protests from their customer base, and this rate-hike resulted in the loss of a lot of their customers.  I happen to be among those who do not like the new timeline feature on facebook, although I would not close my account over it.  I have no doubt however that some people will choose to close their account because it is just another in a series of changes that facebook is forcing on its users.  Busy, dizzying, and less user-friendly are some of the apt descriptions that I have heard about the new feature.  When 92 out of every 100 of your users don't like a change - show a little common sense people...  I'm just seeing on Yahoo! where Aaron Rodgers ripped some of his teammates at the Pro Bowl for their lack of effort.  Finally something that I can get on board with concerning Rodgers (although I admittedly like his State Farm commercials).  I said here last week that I would not watch the game because they don't play a lot of defense, and guess what...  they didn't.  If you are an NBA fan and you have a minute, compare my predictions for the current NBA regular season (you can find these in one of my previous entries titled '2011-12 NBA Regular Season Predictions') to the current standings.  I'm surprised myself at how many teams I have in the correct slots in each division at the moment...  In the next few months you will be getting NCAA Tournament predictions and Major League Baseball regular season predictions here among other things...  I am going to call it a day now, but I will be back on Friday with my Super Bowl prediction.  Four days until the Super Bowl...  :)  Have a good one!