Netflix Stock Drops On News of Facebook Movie Service

Warner Bros. unveiled plans Tuesday to offer movie rentals through the social networking site.

Do you know what you’ll be able to do on Facebook soon? Everything, that’s what. Warner Bros. has reached a deal to allow users to rent or purchase movies through Facebook, costing customers US$3 a pop with both Warner and Facebook getting a cut of the profits. News of the deal sent Netflix stock falling 5.3 per cent to $196.38 Tuesday, even though the Facebook movie service isn’t direct competition for the company. Netflix ships DVDs to customers and streams older films, whereas the Facebook service is pay-per-view and can’t easily show movies on customers’ TV screens. Facebook has already started rolling out Warner titles for rent, starting Tuesday with Batman: the Dark Knight.