In a sign of the times, Netflix will replace The New York Times Co. and Cablevision Systems Corp will replace King Pharmaceuticals Inc. on the Standard & Poor's 500 index (S&P 500), following the close of trading on Friday, Dec. 17, The Changes were among several announced by Standard and Poor's on Friday. Shares in Netflix and Cablevision each rose 5 percent following the announcement. Netflix shares have nearly quadrupled over the past year. Ironically, given the S&P switch, the New York Times reported today (Monday) that the cozy relationship between Netflix and media companies "will likely change drastically" in 2011 as those companies come to realize that consumers may stop paying for cable television if they can receive thousands of movies and television shows via Netflix's online service for a fraction of what they pay the cable companies. In an interview with the Times, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said that previous deals between media companies and Netflix have been part of "an era of experimentation, and I think it's coming to a close."

13/12/2010