Netflix down for at least five hours
Updated at 4:00 p.m. PDT: We have posted a completely new story here that details how Netflix will be forced to delay deliveries.
Internet movie rental company Netflix suffered a site outage beginning at 7 a.m. PDT Monday, and the company doesn't know when it will have the problem fixed, a Netflix spokesman said.
Customer service personnel told CNET News.com that they were told the site was undergoing routine maintenance when something went wrong, information they then passed on to customers. That is incorrect, according to Steve Swasey, the company's director of corporate communications. He said he couldn't discuss the causes but that it had nothing to do with site maintenance.
"Our engineers have been feverishly working on repairing the problem all morning," Swasey said. "It was an unanticipated, unplanned outage and we apologize to our customers."
Site outages are typically no big deal as any company can suffer one. But a blackout that lasts for more than an hour is rare, and one spanning several hours is rarer still.
Netflix, which has 7 million subscribers, continued to ship DVDs after the outage began, though its unclear whether the problem will eventually affect the company's entire database, Swasey said. This means it's possible that users might see some delays in receiving movies. He added that customers needn't worry about their stored movie picks. None of their information will be lost.
This is one of the few setbacks suffered by Netflix in the past year. Since October, the company's shares have doubled in price. In midday trading, Netflix was trading at about $38. The company's site also went down for an extended period last July. The cause was never disclosed.
Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. He is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. E-mail Greg, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sandoCNET. 





DVDs after the outage, ..."
after the outage?
It's not over yet.... don't they really mean "during" the outage?
AM Pacific TIme. It's now been out for 8 hours.
I thought so but couldn't remember the exact time but it was
earlier like you said.
I wanted first instead of the others that I moved
down on the list.
Ben
The discover of any security vulnerability that could be exploited would warrant such an immediate outage with little information as to the cause.
It is possible and likely that we'll never find out for sure. :)
If it's the former, then you must have a spyware or adware issue as I've yet to have any problems with pop-up/under ads while browsing for DVDs, organizing my queue, or watching movies directly on the Netflix site.
If it's the latter, then you should be cursing the other sites as it was their sleezy choice to make the ad open in a new window. That, and you may still have a spyware/adware issue.
Dear Peerflix Member,
Effective April 23, 2008 Peerflix is discontinuing the Marketplace and DVD buy/sell/trade portions of Peerflix.com. While the Peerflix.com web site will be available beyond April 23, 2008, you will no longer be able to buy, sell, send or receive DVDs on Peerflix as of that date. While we have made considerable investments in our marketplace platform over the past four years, unfortunately the escalating costs of operating the marketplace do not make that business viable at this juncture. As we move out of the DVD marketplace business, we are focusing our energy and resources on building the Peerflix Media Network which is now the web's fastest growing vertical movie network....
The Peersafe Protection Program will also be terminating effective April 23, 2008 meaning that you will no longer be able to make any Peersafe claims starting April 23, 2008.
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Well their idea was good but their execution really sucked. Can't say I'll miss them. Sayonarra!
http://officialsafetyandsecurity.com