NFLX: HR 2471 a Prelude to Facebook, Says Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer & Co.’s Jason Halfstein this morning writes that Netflix (NFLX) is “one step closer to U.S. Facebook integration and ‘social TV,’ as a result of the passage in the U.S. House of Representatives late Tuesday of legislation H.R. 2471.

That bill, backed by Republican California Rep. Howard Coble, and Republican Wisconsin Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, and Democratic California Rep. Linda Sanchez, amends rules about disclosing who rented video tapes to say that consent to disclose such information may be obtained via the Internet.

The bill “would allow users to provide ongoing online consent to share their video rental histories, paving the way for US Facebook integration,” writes Halfstein. That could help Netflix by making subscriber growth more “viral,” he thinks, thus reducing some customer acquisition costs.

Nevertheless, Halfstein still expects the stock will be under pressure from generally negative sentiment until Q4 results are reported in late January.

Netflix shares are down $2.44, or 3.4%, at $69.52.

No comments:

Post a Comment