LOS GATOS, Calif., Oct. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) today announced updated guidance for the third and fourth quarters of 2008.

Third-Quarter 2008

The company said it expects net income and EPS will be comfortably within its previous guidance, which was GAAP net income of $16 million to $21 million, and GAAP EPS of $0.26 to $0.34 per diluted share.

Excluding the one-time $6.5 million credit given to subscribers related to the August service interruption, third-quarter revenue is also expected to be within the company's previous guidance of $343 million to $348 million.

Netflix ended the third quarter with approximately 8.672 million subscribers, just below the low end of its previous guidance of 8.675 million to 8.875 million subscribers. Subscribers grew 23 percent year-over-year from 7,028,000 total subscribers at the end of the third quarter of 2007 and 3 percent sequentially from 8,411,000 subscribers at the end of the second quarter of 2008.

'Net subscriber growth in July was in line with expectations but August was unusually weak', said CFO Barry McCarthy. 'In September, the business regained momentum with results slightly below original expectations, likely due to the economic climate.'

    Fourth-Quarter 2008
    The company revised guidance for the fourth quarter as follows:
    -- Ending subscribers of 8.95 million to 9.25 million, down from 9.1
       million to 9.7 million
    -- Revenue of $353 million to $359 million, down from $357 million to $367
       million
    -- GAAP net income of $18 million to $23 million, unchanged from prior
       guidance
    -- GAAP EPS of $0.30 to $0.38, increased slightly from $0.29 to $0.37

Netflix will host its third-quarter earnings call on Monday, October 20 at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time following the release of its third-quarter financial results. Reed Hastings, CEO and co-founder and Barry McCarthy, CFO will host the call to discuss third-quarter 2008 financial results and the business outlook.

The live webcast of the conference call will be available on the investor relations section of the Netflix website at http://ir.netflix.com. Following the completion of the call, a replay of the webcast will be available on the website. For those without access to the Internet, a replay of the call will be available from 8:00 p.m.