Netflix's Europe Problem

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has bankrupted Blockbuster and outmaneuvered Apple and Google in the streaming video space, but if it is to expand beyond its 28 million North American subscribers -- and justify its $12.6 billion market cap -- it has to go global. After dipping its toe in the Canadian market, the company will launch in Latin America this year and has been quietly preparing for a bow in Spain and the U.K. in 2012. Although Netflix declines comment, sources confirm that the company has signed a multiyear exclusive output deal with Lionsgate U.K. and is talking to other content providers across the continent as well as in Asia.