Many of the key streaming contracts that Netflix had signed with the major movie studios will expire in 2012 and 2013, and with content costs expected to soar during contract negotiations with those studios this year, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has said that creating original, must-see content is at least part of the company's strategy for future success.
Cost cuts and a steady stream of contract awards should also bolster the bottom line.
Wireless providers like the accountable income stream that contracts provide.
Founded in 1996, the company has used the steady stream of contracts during the Bush years to build up a private army of twenty thousand on-call mercenary soldiers and a massive military base in North Carolina worth between $40 and $50 million.
Now the stories are set in the city's dank courtyards and dingy stairwells, featuring bloodied corpses, distraught prostitutes and cynical hit men -- familiar stuff for Russian television viewers who for the last 10 years have been treated to a steady stream of of contract killings, war and violence on their nightly news shows.
The deal could also include mechanisms that would give players a specific percentage of certain revenue streams — like lucrative television contracts — which would allow them to share in the gains when new contracts are negotiated, a person briefed on negotiations said.
Telecommunications companies, with their relatively stable revenue streams and long-term contracts, often have considerable flexibility in shifting revenue from one quarter to another.
I helped one operator with a pile of tax bills by presenting historical cost data, market analyses and income streams from power sale contracts.
It cites accounting rules that, Sullivan claims, say that "costs associated with obtaining a customer may be deferred and amortized over the revenue stream associated with that contract".
The new deal gives them both jurisdiction over original content on the Web, and 2% of the distributor's streaming revenue in the contract's third year.
