Hollywood news banter: Netflix’s Reed Hastings speaks his truth

At a recent conference, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings spoke out about some topics, and not everyone in Hollywood will like what he had to say. In addressing content that had been pulled in Saudi Arabia, he said, “We’re not in the 'truth to power' business, we’re in the entertainment business.” He also said they were looking into letting viewers adjust playback speeds to make movies and TV shows go faster, and that in terms of movie theaters, they’re welcome to play Netflix movies...after they’ve already dropped on Netflix. 

The foreign language film category at the Oscars changed its name this year, but not the rules. Now known as the International Feature Film category, movies must still be in a language other than English. That means Nigeria’s first-ever submission has been disqualified, even though the official language of Nigeria is English.