Neflix to lay off 50 techs after Silverlight move

View this article at: http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/12/08/netflix.announces.job.cuts/

Monday, Dec 08, 2008 4:55pm

Neflix to lay off 50 techs after Silverlight move

Online video rental company Netflix announced over the weekend that it will be laying off 50 of its technical specialists after the holidays, according to a Monday CNET report. The jobs involve helping customers with setting up their Netflix set-top boxes or services for PCs and Macs. A spokesman for Netflix says Microsoft's Silverlight plugin made the jobs redundant, as the software made it easy enough for customers to install without having to call for help.

At the same time, 15 technical specialists will join Netflix' approximate 300 customer service employees and the company will add 50 customer service representatives early on in 2009, albeit in different capacities than the technical specialists that are being laid off. Netflix says the recent streaming quality and long buffering issues its customers had to endure are not in any way related to the announced lay-offs.