"The disappearance of Sony’s movies resulted from a clause in the Starz agreement. According to people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because contract terms are confidential, it includes an undisclosed cap, which has recently been exceeded, on the number of people who can watch Sony movies online."[1]
So perhaps Netflix could tweak their algo to avoid recommending movies that might have said caps. I have no proof they're doing this specifically though. Though maybe this cap was on total users rather than on number of views per title. I do know they would hide high demand new release DVDs in effort to reduce the demand on the movie, which in theory would allow them to purchase fewer copies.
"The disappearance of Sony’s movies resulted from a clause in the Starz agreement. According to people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because contract terms are confidential, it includes an undisclosed cap, which has recently been exceeded, on the number of people who can watch Sony movies online."[1]
So perhaps Netflix could tweak their algo to avoid recommending movies that might have said caps. I have no proof they're doing this specifically though. Though maybe this cap was on total users rather than on number of views per title. I do know they would hide high demand new release DVDs in effort to reduce the demand on the movie, which in theory would allow them to purchase fewer copies.
[1] http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/0...