Netflix Sinks to a New Low

Leading off Friday's cable news roundup, the hits keep coming at Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX), and we're not talking about movies that killed it at the box office or TV shows that topped the The Nielsen Co. ratings.

Netflix stock took an 11 percent haircut Thursday, closing at a new 52-week low of $113.19, as investors fretted about the competitive prospects of Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT)'s Xbox TV platform and the new Kindle Fire tablet, which will bake in Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) streaming video service. Netflix, which has been reeling amid a recent price hike and a reduced subscription forecast, has seen its market cap drop by $10.1 billion in just 10 weeks, notes The New York Post. Netflix shares were down $3.38 (2.99%) to $109.81 in pre-market trading Friday. (See Netflix Does the Splits and Netflix Chops 1M Subs From Q3 Forecast.)

A few more details are bubbling up about how Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) intend to integrate with Microsoft's coming Xbox TV effort. Verizon, taking a page from the AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) U-verse playbook for the Xbox, will offer its full FiOS TV service, while Comcast will start off by providing access to its Xfinity On Demand service, says Multichannel News. Bloomberg, meanwhile, has identified several Xbox TV content partners, including HBO, NBCUniversal LLC 's Bravo and Syfy, and Amazon's LOVEFiLM International Ltd. . (See Microsoft's Pursuit of 'Input 1' and Microsoft Sees Xmas Debut for Xbox TV .)

Cable operators beat the telcos in all U.S. regions in the latest J.D. Power and Associates customer satisfaction rankings for residential phone service. Cox Communications Inc. took the crown in the East and West regions, while Bright House Networks was tops in the South; and WideOpenWest Holdings LLC (WOW) led in the North Central. But not every MSO scored well in every region. Charter Communications Inc. ranked last in the West, and Comcast brought up the rear in the South.

CableLabs has unveiled PeerConnect, a registry that connects cable operators so they can exchange data for voice and video calls, SMS messages and other IP apps over their respective networks. Among examples, Shaw Communications Inc. is using PeerConnect as a number translation service, and Cox TMI Wireless is using it as a component of its SMS-MMS service. CableLabs says the registry has been in production since 2009.

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable