MarketWatch reports that some observers are concerned that Netflix might be weakened if the Viacom channel becomes available through Hulu or the streaming service from Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). Netflix would not lose the right to stream Epix content, but would lose its exclusive right to do so.

Netflix has been trying to bolster its offerings of new or exclusive content to combat dwindling subscriber numbers.

Shares in Netflix fell -7.6% today to close at $75.95 in a 52-week range of $62.37-$304.79.

But both Amazon and Netflix face pretty tough competition from the likes of Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) and its HBO network, CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) and its Showtime channel, and Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB) and its Nickelodeon network, among others.

In its announcement today, Amazon said it will option one new project a month to add to its development list and to test with an audience. If the company picks up the option, the creator will receive a payment of $55,000 plus a share of merchandise licensing, royalties, and bonuses.

Like Netflix, Amazon’s streaming video offering needs a constant stream of good quality content. Licensing that content from the existing studios is getting more expensive as the studios get the idea that they can do it just as well or better, and keep more of the money.

Back in the early days of the World Wide Web, the mantra was, “Content is king.” But that content was generally static. Today’s streaming video and live Internet programming were a distant dream. But content is still king. The issue is whether that content can be licensed or created at a reasonable cost.

Amazon and Netflix are fighting an uphill battle here, and, as in all uphill battles, the odds favor the folks on the high ground.

Paul Ausick

Read The Least Powerful CEOs in America

Read The Most Powerful CEOs in America

Most of the companies with a controlling shareholder are ones in which the founder or founding family had all of the ownership before the company became public. In some cases these founders kept all voting shares for themselves at the time of the initial public offering. In other cases, they kept enough to still have much larger stakes than any other holders. The best example of the evolution from owning all of a company to owning voting control is Walmart (NYSE: WMT). Sam Walton founded the company. He kept the controlling block of shares when it went public. His family retained control after his death and still does.

The fact that a CEO can be dismissed for reasons other than performance does not appear to affect how well these chief executives do. Current Walmart CEO Michael Duke may be the worst chief executive in the retailer’s history, but so far he retains the support of the founder’s family.  The Mexico bribery scandal that Walmart faces will cost shareholders money, probably in the form of large legal fees and perhaps government fines. Walmart’s stock has fallen recently due to investor concerns. Duke has been a poor steward. At the other end of the spectrum is Fabrizio Freda, who runs Estee Lauder (NYSE: EL). The company set a record for both profits and revenue last year. Shares are up 100% in just two years. Still, nothing would keep the Lauder family from dismissing Freda — should they choose to — despite those successes.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed the corporate structure, governance and voting rights of the 500 largest companies by market cap. Based on a review of company proxies, we identified those companies in which someone other than the CEO had voting control of the company. We then limited the universe to those companies with market cap in excess of $5 billion.

These are 24/7 Wall St.’s least powerful CEOs in America.

YouTube and Google ware charged specifically with showing 79,000 videos without permission from the copyright holders and with doing nothing to stop the infringing behavior. The appeals court also said the lower court should also decide whether or not YouTube/Google developed a “willful blindness” by not removing the videos.

The interesting part of this is that Paramount, like the other studios, simply won’t give in on streaming. Movie rentals have to be downloaded and played as if from a DVD. How long do the studios think viewers are going to want to do that? These guys have had years to figure out a way to make money on streaming and the best they could do is Hulu. And the studios have even crippled that.

And of course, the studios are still fighting with YouTube and Google over copyright violations.

The studios know that content is king, but they appear to be determined to keep the king locked in an iron mask for as long as they can. Hey, that’s a great idea for a movie…

Paul Ausick

The Department of Justice is expected to widen its probe of mortgage-backed securities. (Reuters)

AT&T (NYSE: T) sets new standards that will impose penalties on those who download large amounts of data to wireless devices. (Reuters)

Western sanctions begin to hurt Iran’s oil export business. (Reuters)

Two companies will use Twitter data to sell marketers’ ads on the service. (Reuters)

Facebook to expand its credit line by $2.5 billion to cover taxes of some employees due to its IPO. (Reuters)

Walmart (NYSE: WMT), Target (NYSE: TGT) and other large retailers will establish a service to take advantage of mobile payment devices. (WSJ)

Eurozone ministers will wait to release bailout funds until they see implementation of Greek austerity measures. (WSJ)

Germany’s retail sales fall in January. (WSJ)

Yelp’s price is above its IPO range. (WSJ)

Sumner Redstone, Viacom’s (NASDAQ: VIAB) chairman, may miss its annual meeting. (WSJ)

Toyota’s (NYSE: TM) sales in China rise sharply in February. (WSJ)

Some members of Congress resist postal offices closures as the USPS tries to cut costs. (WSJ)

The eurozone’s unemployment rate reaches a 15-year high. (WSJ)

GM (NYSE: GM), Ford (NYSE: F) and Chrysler all post February sales gains. (WSJ)

A decision to approve an anticlotting drug from Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) is delayed until later in the year as experts review its effects. (WSJ)

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) will try to drill in the area north of Russia, if it can get government approval. (WSJ)

Rumors of a Saudi oil pipe break drive oil above $110. (WSJ)

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) will buy Ariel Reinsurance as it attempts to diversify. (WSJ)

Despite the ruling of a key body, Greek credit default swaps could still be triggered by a default. (WSJ)

Crude hits its highest level since records set in 2008. (FT)

Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) new privacy policy upsets European Comission regulators. (FT)

EU leaders will speed money to a permanent bailout fund meant to calm international capital markets. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 11 points to 12,705.41 (-0.09%), the NASDAQ rose more than 11 points (0.4%) to 2,859.68, and the S&P 500 rose 0.11% or nearly 1.5 points to 1,325.54.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) raised to ‘overweight’ at JPMorgan; Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW) cut to ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse; AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) cut to ‘underperform’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch; Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) cut to ‘neutral’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch; and Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) started as ‘buy’ at Canaccord Genuity.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) is up nearly 24% at $66.30; Education Management Corp. (NASDAQ: EDMC) is down -17% at $21.19; Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) is down -0.6% at $24.62; Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) is up 2.2% at $60.88 after posting a new 52-week high of $61.93 earlier today; Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH) is up 3.2% at $3.27; Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) is down -3.9% at $5.85; Brinks Co. (NYSE: BCO) is down -17.5% at $24.43; Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO) is up 0.35% at $63.29; Lear Corp. (NYSE: LEA) is down -1.2% at $42.48; Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) is down -0.3% at $38.51; Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) is down -0.3% at $15.71; and Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB) is down -0.9% at $46.53.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) is up nearly 18% at $12.49 after posting a new post-IPO high of $12.91 earlier today. The social games company got a big boost from Facebook’s IPO filing. Our coverage is here.

MediciNova Inc. (NASDAQ: MNOV) is up nearly 31% at $2.47. The company received a favorable patent notice for a multiple sclerosis treatment device.

Response Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: RGDX) is up more than 27% at $1.50. The drug maker announced the private placement of about 5.3 million shares at $1.50/share, about 28% higher than last night’s closing price.

BioScrip Inc. (NASDAQ: BIOS) is up more than 15% at $6.73. The pharmacy services provider has sold a portion of its assets to Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) for $225 million.

Ur-Energy Inc. (AMEX: URG) is down more than -13% at $1.22. The uranium miner has issued 1.5 million shares of new stock to agents who will attempt to sell at CDN$1.00.

Stay tuned for Friday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 8:30 a.m. – Non-farm payroll report
• 10:00 a.m. – Factory orders
• 10:00 a.m. – ISM non-manufacturing (services) index

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Paul Ausick

Alkermes, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALKS) Raised to Outperform at Leerink Swann.
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE: AEO) Cut to Neutral at Janney.
Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) Started as Buy at RBS.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Started as Buy at boutique firm BGC Financial.
The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) Maintained Strong Buy as Value at Zacks.
GAMCO Investors, Inc. (NYSE: GBL) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Illinois Tool Works (NYSE: ITW) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
The Jones Group Inc. (NYSE: JNY) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) Reiterated Buy and $41 target at Argus.
Philips Electronics NV (NYSE: PHG) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Quest Diagnostics, Inc. (NYSE: DGX) reiterated Outperform but on Focus List at Credit Suisse.
Regis Corporation (NYSE: RGS) Kept at Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO) Started as Buy at RBS.
Saks Incorporated (NYSE: SKS) Raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Viacom, Inc. (NYSE: VIA-B) Raised to Buy at Argus.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) Raised to Buy at Brean Murray; Reiterated Buy at Argus.
Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Reiterated Buy at Needham.
Everest Re Group, Ltd. (NYSE: RE) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Hercules Offshore, Inc. (NASDAQ: HERO) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) Reiterated Hold at Argus.
LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Pool Corporation (NASDAQ: POOL) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Rare Element Resources Ltd. (AMEX: REE) Started as Buy at Dahlman Rose.
U.S. Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) Reiterated Buy at Argus.
Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA-B) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
VIVUS Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) Reiterated Buy at Needham.
Wells Fargo & Co. Inc. (NYSE: WFC) Reiterated Sell at Argus.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

The deal is a five-year pact that will allow Netflix subscribers to watch Epix partners’ movies through the Netflix streaming web service. Epix will make its new releases and other titles available to Netflix subscribers 90 days after those titles debut on pay-TV and on-demand where the titles generate a higher sale for Epix.  If the L.A. Times is right, this will send about $1 billion in license fees to Epix and its partners over the course of the term.

Netflix has been one force in killing Blockbuster along with a slew of other factors.  There is also competition that the company faces.  Coinstar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR) has the Redbox video rental service that is located in grocery stores and other settings.  While Coinstar was hit on its growth rates, these boxes are a threat as newer boxes can hold more titles.

The move to streaming video and higher postal rates in 2011 and beyond may also increase its operating costs and lower the margins as the company has a hard time passing on higher costs. More than 60% of customers have opted for a streaming service according to the company.  Netflix also seems to have more demand for its lower-priced service over the premium service, and that means that Netflix will have to add even more and more subscribers to keep up with growth targets.

Despite a continually surging membership growth, Netflix is unlikely to be able to continually add subscribers.  As with all high growth stories, there is only so much market penetration that can occur.  It is a great service and it also has many addicts.

Netflix shares are down 2.25% at $114.25 right after the open, although it is worth noting that this is already more than $1.00 above the early trading lows of $113.20.

JON C. OGG