Netflix reinvents the wheel—with cable

TL;DR: The company that helped kill cable is considering rebuilding it. Netflix is weighing live channels and streaming bundles to claw back slipping engagement, according to the Wall Street Journal. But attention-grabbing instincts—the redesigns and constant reranking meant to keep you hooked—are now backfiring across the industry as regulators circle.

What happened: Netflix executives have reportedly discussed introducing always-on live channels and bundling third-party apps like NBCUniversal’s Peacock directly into its platform, where they’d appear as tiles on the homepage (the same playbook rivals Disney, Amazon, and Apple have run for years). The discussion comes amid a backslide in Netflix’s user engagement—its share of total US TV viewership fell to 7.8% in April, its lowest since May 2025.

Just one more: Netflix, a company synonymous with the word “binge,” has already made changes and refined its recommendation engine over the years to keep users engaged. Its homepage redesign last year included real-time recommendations, navigation shortcuts, and a personalized hub keeping track of things like where you left off or what you plan to watch next. Earlier this week, the company said it’s adding videos from publishers like BuzzFeed and Condé Nast. Yet retention remains a stubborn problem: Data from Bloomberg indicates Netflix viewers are abandoning its biggest shows after just one season.

Birds of a feather: The features keeping users hooked are the same ones drawing fire—Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Netflix in May, accusing it of a bait and switch by addicting families and collecting data without consent. Netflix said the lawsuit “lacks merit” and is based on inaccurate information.

And across the pond, the European Commission preliminarily found Meta in breach of its digital laws yesterday, citing the addictive design of Facebook and Instagram. The EU took aim at (familiar) specific features: infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and personalized recommendation systems. Regulators have asked Meta to make major design changes. A Meta spokesperson said the company disagreed with the findings. (In March, a California jury found Google and Meta liable for designing YouTube and Instagram to be addictive and harming a young user’s mental health.)

Bottom line: As these platforms race against the one fear they all share—losing user interest—they’re reaching for everything they can. Now the same features keeping you watching are landing them in court. —LC