Name: FX’s CEO Has a Bone to Pick with Netflix
Uploaded: 2016-01-28
Duration: 2 min 47 s
Description: John Landgraf sat down with Fortune to explain.

I look at Netflix as a company that's trying to take over the world. Right, I don't, I don't look at them as a company that wants to be part of an ecosystem. I look at them as a company, like many companies in Silicon Valley, that want to own the ecosystem, they want to take over the ecosystem. So I guess what I would say, cuz you asked me the question, was why do I hate Silicon Valley, and the answer is I don't. What I hate is unbridled power. And so, on that note, you've called for more transparency with companies like Netflix. They don't release any ratings numbers. Is there a big push to make that happen? Are there any advances? Do you think that it will happen at some point soon, that they'll release those numbers? I don't think they'll release the numbers. I think it's been enormously to Netflix's Advantage to not release that data and that's where I think, well, you know, Ted Sarandos, again, I have to say and I hope you'll keep this on camera, he's a guy that I had a lot of respect for. I don't think you could not have a profound respect for what he and Reed Hastings have built. I'm not saying that if I were Reed Hastings or I were Ted Sarandos I wouldn't be trying to do the same thing. But as their competitor. Mm- hm. My job is to call baloney on the stuff that's baloney. And say, you know? If you guys think that the reason Netflix doesn't release its ratings is to create a better creative environment for the people that work there, I got a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you for a few bucks, right? So you mentioned your respect for. Ted [ UNKNOWN ] and Netflix, Bradley, but you also said that your shows are better. Is that something that you think and they're gonna accept your running a network here? I'm sure you would say that as opposed to other networks as well, I'm guessing. But is that something that content advantage, do you see that going away at some point as they get more and more into their original content? I don't say that our program is universally better than their programming. I think their program is really good. And I've watched bunch of their programming. I watched Master of None quite recently and really liked it. Where I tend to get point it is when they put out the notion that they're gonna use an algorithm. And that algorithm is gonna prefect, they gonna use data and they're gonna use an algorithm to prefect the selection of Programming and therefore they're gonna have a perfect batting average. That's ludacris, absolutely ludacris. First of all, they don't have a perfect batting average. They've had just as much failure as anybody else who put 35 shows on the air. They just won't admit that they fail. You take any Competent programmer you give them 60 at best. Right? Over a three year period. They are going to make some terrific shows. [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

FX’s CEO Has a Bone to Pick with Netflix

John Landgraf sat down with Fortune to explain.