intentionally slowing its movie streaming service. As a subscriber who has experienced the recent slowdown, I also explored the notion in a post a couple weeks back. But, after weeks of claims, the DVD-by-mail company is finally setting the record straight -- it's not slowing down access to its online movie catalog for anyone.
Neil Hunt, Chief Product Officer for Netflix, attempted to clarify the matter in a recent company blog post. Hunt says that the relatively new service, which allows Netflix subscribers to freely stream a catalog of over 12,000 titles online, is prone to the same infrastructure issues plaguing every other content provider on the web.
He goes on to explain that since Netflix is commited to providing the service on a patchwork of devices (Xbox360, set top boxes, blu-ray players, and through the browser), there will always be bottlenecks and hiccups due to the various ways these devices pull video from the servers. Hunt also mentions the possible roles of ISPs and region specific congestion, but it all drills down to this: though it's slow at times, Netflix isn't intentionally trying to keep subscribers off its streaming service.
A brief email exchange with Steve Swasey, Netflix's VP of Corporate Communications, only supports this notion. Swasey remarked that with the system's current caps, customers would have to stream content eight hours a day, seven days a week before Netflix would consider changing its access speeds and limits. But, in the meantime, Netflix's team of engineers will continue to devise infrastructural workarounds for any major issues customers might be experiencing.