Netflix To Invest $5-10 Million in Tech; Yo-Yoing Again

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is the king of indecisiveness, at least when it comes to his company’s digital plans. Over the last 2-3 years, he has talked about how digital movies is his company’s future, and yet talks down the industry at any opportunity he gets, to defend his own mail-order business. This is not a putdown of his company, which is doing just fine, but he needs to get his talking straight.

Case in point: Last quarter, the company announced that it is delaying its online movie service plans. Now, when the momentum for video downloads and delivery has increased over the last few months, the company is touting its digital plans again.

But first, the Q4 2005 results: its Q4 earnings went from $143.9 million to $195 million, and profits spiked from $5.6 million to $38.1 million. Also, during the conf call, the company said will invest $5 million-$10 million in technology in 2006, while CFO Barry McCarthy predicted Netflix will “lead the future of digital downloading.”

Here’s his double-speak: Hastings also cautioned that studios’ lucrative TV output deals would provide drag on a wide range of films being available for download — to the benefit of Netflix’s mail business.

Also, the company said that it will support both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray movies when they come out.

More earnings details in the release.

Related: Netflix Delaying Online Movie Service; Speaks Against Exclusive TV Deals

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