The frustrations of Netflix and IndusOS
On the streaming service’s India pangs and how an experienced player gets passed over in a misguided quest for a new operating system.
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Editor's note: Harveen here. Last week, Reed Hastings made a comment about India and that’s all that the business press has talked about ever since. On a webcast, the founder and CEO of Netflix said: “The thing that frustrates us is why we haven't been as successful in India. But we're definitely leaning in there." It opened a can of worms. Reams have been written in less than a week on what Netflix’s problem in India is and how it should solve it. All sorts of analyses and criticisms have been published, sending the Netflix India team into disarray. The statement also led to apprehensions and questions within the content industry—about the future of the company here, about India being in sync with Netflix globally and about the global team being dissatisfied with the efforts of the team here. So much so that Hastings has now apologized to the India team for his comment. In an email sent to the entire office, Hastings has said that his comment was taken out of context and that he has complete faith in the India …
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