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Ted Sarandos has led content acquisition for Netflix since 2000.
With more than 20 years' experience in home entertainment, Ted is recognized in the industry as an innovator in film acquisition and distribution.
Ted oversees strategic content acquisition for Netflix and manages the company's relationships with studios, networks, film makers and producers. Since 2000, the Netflix library has increased tremendously, from 2,000 DVDs in 1999 to 80,000 DVDs and more than 2,000 movies and TV episodes available for instant watching on the personal computer this year. As Netflix has grown to 6.8 million subscribers in 2007, Ted has established Netflix as a successful film distributor within the entertainment industry.
Ted has also spearheaded the company's original content initiative, Red Envelope Entertainment, creating a national platform for films and entertainment programming through unique partnerships with filmmakers, networks and studios, including IFC, HBO, ThinkFilm and Sundance Channel. These unique deals enable Netflix to provide the broadest variety of films for consumers as well as offer an alternate distribution method for smaller and independent films that might not otherwise be seen. Ted ensures that the 80,000 titles in the Netflix DVD library and more than 2,000 titles available for instant watching satisfy the 6.8 million Netflix subscribers who rent about 1.5 million DVDs per day.
Ted began his home video career managing a metropolitan retail chain from 1983 to 1988. He then moved to video distributor ETD, where he served as Western regional director of sales and operations. Until March 2000, Ted was vice president of product and merchandising for Video City, where he negotiated the industry's first DVD revenue sharing agreement and reduced the cost of content from all studios.
Ted is a former chapter president and board member for the Video Software Dealers Association. He also serves on the Film Advisory Board for Tribeca Film Festival, the retail advisory board for the Digital Entertainment Group, FIND Advisory Board and MediaRights.org, as well as a serving as a trustee for International Documentary Association. Ted was also most recently included in Variety's Global 50, a list of the 50 most influential people in independent film distribution.
An avid consumer of popular culture, Ted keeps abreast of the entertainment industry by reading the dailies and trades cover-to-cover, attending the latest and greatest events in Hollywood and traveling and skiing in his coveted downtime. He lives in Los Angeles with his two kids. Ted owns an HD TV and uses Netflix to catch up on films he hasn't seen in person. | 