• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, March 16, 2021

Dan Nathan, a veteran stock market trader and regular on CNBC's “Fast Money,” thinks it may be a good time to buy Netflix stock -- given potential efforts about its future direction.

“Maybe it has to do with ‘live’ programming, maybe when it comes to rebundling some stuff, maybe audio,” he says.

Having weathered the premium streaming competition -- so far -- many have wondered whether the powerful Netflix could revisit the idea of expanding into other parts of the complex TV world, such as major sports TV franchises. That would mean a shift to “live” transmission for Netflix.

But things are getting tight. As we speak, it seems Amazon is nearing a score to grab exclusive airings of one of the NFL's major game packages: “Thursday Night Football.”

If Netflix goes the live-sports route, that pretty much means the obvious and head-scratching connection: TV advertising. We know from its history that's a big thumbs-down for the streamer.

That said, more than one analyst has mulled the idea of Netflix creating a separate business unit, far removed from its current ad-free scripted entertainment and nonfiction/unscripted content. This is where some live content could live.

It is tough to determine how any major sports TV franchise can actually work without TV advertising -- even European football (soccer), where there are no natural breaks in the action, has advertising and sponsorship.

One moment in TV history takes one back to HBO's airing of Wimbledon in the mid-1990s. Tennis has natural breaks. But HBO never aired any TV advertising messages -- save that of unplanned product placement on-court activity.

In addition, much of Netflix's major growth continues to come from international business.

A new report says one possible new area for Netflix is selling some limited rerun TV series to linear TV networks. That said, this is not expected to be a major line of business.

Media companies -- legacy and new ones -- need to move the goalposts to survive.