Consumer Anger Isn't Netflix' Only Problem

When the going gets tough, the tough ... well, they get going and hire some more "governmental affairs" representatives.  Lobbyists, in other words.

Netflix is the latest rough and tough high-tech firm to realize it needs to lawyer up and get ready for the next rack of shoes to drop on its once-peaceful video-rental business.

Netflix customers haven't taken to the streets to protest the company's new rate structure but that may only be because so many of them are already out occuping Wall Street, Main Street and everything in between.

But consumers are still outraged at Netflix.  A ConsumerAffairs.com computerized analysis of about 4 million consumer comments on Facebook, Twitter and other blogs and social media finds the company's approval rating continuing to plunge -- falling from a 60% positive rating a year ago to a dismal 14% today.

Besides the consumer revolt, Netflix faces the usual raft of 21st Century problems -- broadband regulations, privacy rules, telecom and cable conniving and growing resistance from Hollywood rights holders -- and also a 19th Century headache that could be the hardest to solve, namely the sorry state of the Post Office.

New hires

Helping to pull the wagons into a circle will be two new hires --  Victoria Luxardo Jeffries, most recently of the Federal Trade Commission, and Colin Bortner, late of Monument Policy Group.

Jeffries will be a senior manager of government relations.  And Bortner?  Well, he'll be manager of goverment relations.  

Jeffries comes from the a division of the Federal Trade Commission’s bureau of competition that oversaw merger reviews in the high-tech industry and of video rental services. She will begin at Netflix later this month.

At Monument,  Bortner advised Netflix and other Web firms including Zillow, Travelocity and Microsoft.

“I’m pleased to welcome Victoria and Colin to Netflix’s Washington, D.C., office and look forward to working with them as we expand globally and address important consumer issues within a thriving digital economy,” said Michael Drobac, director of government relations for Netflix, according to Politico.

Riding roughshod

The digital economy is all well and good but it was the U.S. Postal Service that originally brought Netflix to D.C.  It began lobbying in 2005 on just a single issue -- postal rate reform.  The price of a stamp is a big deal when you buy millions of them, after all.

Now that Netflix has all these directors, managers and senior managers of government relations, it is obviously hoping to do a lot more managing of a lot more issues.  

Netflix is still a small presence in Washington, perhaps spending less than $1 million per year on lobbying, although with all the new hires and all that senior government managing, that's likely to change quickly.

If you can believe it, the company didn't even have any lobbyists until late 2010.  Can you imagine?  No lobbyists!  

Drobac was the first hire.  He was formerly a Hill staffer for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas).  Drobac has also been a log-roller for Expedia, the IAC/InterActive Corp. and the Online Publishers Association.

Whether all these handlers will be able to help Netflix avoid any future blunders remains to be seen but if the company has any hope of becoming the globe-straddling video-streaming goliath of its founder's dreams, its likely to find the need for more lobbyists, government relations and public affairs operatives grows as fast as its bandwidth cravings, if not faster. 

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