Netflix won't be part of Apple streaming platform

Ahead of the launch of Apple's streaming service, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has said his company will not integrate its services with the upcoming platform.

"Apple's a great company. (But) we want to have people watch our content on our service, and so we have chosen not to integrate into their services," Hastings said at a press event here on Monday.

The comment precedes Apple's impending formal announcement to take a deep-dive into the competitive technology-driven world of over-the-top (OTT) entertainment with a set of its own original shows, as well as plans to resell other subscription services like Starz and Showtime as part of its service.

Asked how Netflix can compete with companies like Apple and Amazon that have deep pockets, Hastings said: "With difficulty."

"You do your best job when you have great competitors. They do a good job, I am going to be envious. They are going to come up with great ideas, I am going to want to borrow those...

"We will make this a great industry if we have great competitors and those companies will be amazing competitors in addition to the ones that we have now," Hastings told reporters here.

Talking specifically on the competition with Amazon, Hastings said: "For the last 20 years, we have grown. We have got many competitors. We have been competing with Amazon for many years. They are reported to be spending $4-5 billion a year or so on content.

"We spend about twice that. Now, new companies are coming... There's Disney+, WarnerMedia.

"They (the parent companies) have been in the business for a long time, and we compete with all kinds of entertainment time already. Sometimes we think of YouTube as a great partner, sometimes as a competitor. It's the same with all of these," he added.

"Our success doesn't determine their success. And what matters is to do amazing content that people love watching and sharing," Hastings noted.

Apple is gearing up for its mega event on March 25 at the Steve Jobs theatre on its Cupertino, California-based campus, during which the tech giant is expected to announce its much-awaited video streaming service.

(Radhika Bhirani is in the US at the invitation from Netflix. She can be reached at radhika.b@ians.in)

--IANS

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