Netflix strengthens position as theater owners assess industry future

Netflix is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America, the trade association for Walt Disney Co, AT&T Inc's Warner Bros. and other movie studios

As movie theatre owners converge on Las Vegas for their annual convention, one topic that keeps coming up is how they contend with a company that has resisted their traditional business model: Netflix Inc.

The world’s most successful streaming service sends some movies to theatres but has insisted on making them available on Netflix at the same time, or just a few weeks later. That has upset big movie chains, which refuse to show Netflix films and want a longer “window” of time to play films exclusively.

The issue of how Netflix fits into, or threatens, the theatre business dominated a press