Good day to my readers are VirtualizationAdmin.com! Today, I thought I’d do something totally different and, yes, totally off topic and talk entertainment. We all spend a ton of time working with Xen, VMware, Hyper-V, storage, bits, bytes and other IT stuff. So, when we get some downtime, we like to sit back and watch our favorite TV program. These days, I find myself watching Fringe, but I have to use either Hulu or Amazon since I’m never home when it airs and I’m not always in front of a TV. I’ve also been making ample use of Netflix’s on demand streaming services and have been rewatching some of my favorite programs of yesteryear, including Buffy and Angel.
If you’ve been reading the news lately, you’ll be aware that Apple is rumored to be creating their own television set that will be, I’m sure, both magical and revolutionary. Of course, the company already makes a pretty cool little Apple TV device that enables users to watch a variety of programming, including iTunes videos. The news has also been chock full of details regarding Apple’s efforts to license content for use with their current and rumored new offering. According to some of these news reports, Apple has been stymied in these efforts for now due to existing contracts that companies have in place with Netflix.
So, my question to you: Why doesn’t Apple just buy Netflix? They’d start with a prebuilt catalog, could sell the DVD business (maybe they could name the new service something awesome like Quikster) and be able to get at those contracts currently held by Netflix. What do you think?