With the major studios making it virtually impossible for Netflix to offer new movies to its streaming subscribers after its deal with Starz ends on February 28, the company seems poised for a makeover, increasingly offering original content. Although it launches the first of five planned original series on February 6 -- Lilyhammer , starring Steven Van Zandt -- no other new program is expected to hit Netflix's cyberwaves until 2013. While some writers are comparing Netflix's streaming service with HBO, Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos has emphasized that every episode of each of the new series will be available to subscribers simultaneously. In an interview with MediaPost , Sarandos said that Lilyhammer is "bigger than experimentation, but it's definitely learning." In a separte interview onstage at the NATPE conference in Miami Beach, Sarandos also indicated that Netflix will be focusing on specialty TV fare, noting, "More people watched the first season of Mad Men on Netflix than on AMC."

25/01/2012