Netflix is Done, Liberals to Challenge Obama, and More in Chad’s Steaming Pile

Here are just a few things in Chad’s Pile that you will hear on Lubbock’s First News this morning. Give Chad your feedback on the steaming topics.

1. Netflix, Qwikster, RIP (link)

Netflix isn't dead yet, but it's not looking pretty. On Monday the company's CEO issued an apology for how Netflix has handled business over the past few months. Netflix also announced that they are spinning off the DVD side of their business into a completely new company called Qwikster. Well, it appears as though that plan isn't working either.

All those customers who appreciate low prices, innovative products and rapid customer service? When they feel slighted, they can sign out just as fast as they signed up.

On Monday many Netflix customers derided the company’s plan — announced unexpectedly late on Sunday night — to split into two separate businesses, one for Internet streaming and one for DVDs by mail. They mocked the new name of the DVD company, Qwikster, and predicted its demise. And they wondered why Netflix’s chief executive, Reed Hastings, was apologizing for “arrogance” — but not for disrupting a service that they adore.

“I have a feeling the apologies are just beginning,” said Mike Gordon, the chief executive of Group Gordon, a corporate and crisis public relations firm in New York. “They’re catching customers off-guard by making huge changes and not providing a lot of explanation for them. It’s been handled poorly.”.

How long do you give Netflix or do you think they will pull themselves back up?

2. Obama will face a challenger (link)

President Obama hasn't just ticked off conservatives. Apparently the far left isn't too happy either.

President Obama’s smooth path to the Democratic nomination may have gotten rockier Monday, after a group of liberal leaders, including former presidential candidate Ralph Nader, announced plans to challenge the incumbent in primaries next year.

The group said the goal is to offer up a handful of candidates from various fields and areas where the president either has failed to stake out a “progressive” position or where he has “drifted toward the corporatist right.”

“Without debates by challengers inside the Democratic Party’s presidential primaries, the liberal/majoritarian agenda will be muted and ignored,” Mr. Nader said in a news release. “The one-man Democratic primaries will be dull, repetitive, and draining of both voter enthusiasm and real bright lines between the two parties that excite voters.”

3. The illegal immigrant hotline (link)

Well this is interesting...

A new hotline being unveiled Monday aims to help illegal immigrants clear up confusion about deportation.

Modeled after those for the homeless or victims of domestic violence, the "first-in-nation" crisis hotline will serve callers 24 hours a day. It launches Monday afternoon at Jane Addams Hull House.

Volunteers will take calls and direct people facing deportation to lawyers and social service agencies by asking them a checklist of questions to help determine the right course of action.

These and many more topics coming up on Tuesday’s edition of Lubbock’s First News with Chad Hasty. Tune in mornings 6-9am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App.