Netflix on Amazon's NFL deal: 'Not a strategy that we think is smart for us'

Netflix has said - on many, many, many occasions - that it doesn't want to get into live sports. But still, its executives get asked about it all the time.

And it makes sense!

Netflix has disrupted the TV industry to such a large extent that it's only natural investors might be curious if it would set its sights on sports. This is especially relevant given that rival Amazon has jumped into the sports game by winning the rights to stream 10 of the NFL's games, paying a whopping $50 million to do so, according to The Wall Street Journal.

But Netflix isn't interested. "Investors ask us about Amazon's move into NFL football," Netflix wrote in a letter to shareholders on Monday. "That is not a strategy that we think is smart for us since we believe we can earn more viewing and satisfaction from spending that money on movies and TV shows." (bolded for emphasis)

In the letter, Netflix also leaned away from "live TV" by declaring that it didn't see new streaming TV packages as a threat. "We don't think it will have much of an impact on us as Netflix is largely complementary to pay TV packages," Netflix wrote. "Our focus also is on on-demand, commercial free viewing rather than live, ad-supported programming."

Netflix missed on both domestic and international subscriber growth in Q1, but turned in an above-expected forecast for Q2.

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