Welcome to the cable news roundup, Hump Day edition.
Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) is apparently feeling confident again after bouncing back in the fourth quarter following a series of high-profile blunders. The company believes that its U.S. service "should grow to 2-3x HBO," reports NewTeeVee, citing a presentation by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. HBO has about 30 million subs, meaning that Netflix has designs on a domestic sub base in the range of 60 million to 90 million. Netflix ended 2011 with 24.40 million U.S. subs. (See Netflix Subs Rebound in Q4 .)
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is floating a proposal that would extend its analog TV carriage mandate for cable through June 2015, reports Multichannel News. The current set of rules, which requires operators to deliver "must carry" TV broadcast channels in both analog and digital format, is set to expire on June 12, 2012. (See FCC OKs Dual TV Carriage Rules.)
Comcast-owned media publishing firm thePlatform Inc.
has promoted three execs: Alex Glass from VP of global operations to chief information officer; Marty Roberts to SVP of sales and marketing worldwide; and Michael Horwitz to SVP of engineering. All three report to thePlatform CEO Ian Blaine.