House of Reed: Netflix CEO Hastings to Speak at Code Conference

Yesterday, we added a pair of top Apple execs — Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi — to the fantabulous lineup of speakers at our first Code Conference in May.

Today, we are thrilled to announce our final speaker to add to the roster: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.

Of course, this marks the 12th tech and media event that Walt Mossberg and I have done — including 11 years of D: All Things Digital — and we think that this one will not disappoint. The new Code includes Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts.

Recently, Hastings and Roberts have been at cross-purposes over Comcast’s bid to acquire Time Warner Cable, with the voluble chief of the premium online video service throwing out some pretty strong criticism at the cable giant’s leader.

Such as, Hastings — despite a recently signed Web traffic deal with Comcast — explaining why Netflix was opposing Comcast’s bid:

“Brian Roberts is incredibly thoughtful. I’d say if there’s anyone that you wanted to trust with controlling half of the U.S. Internet, you might pick Brian Roberts. He’s very thoughtful, very long-term about it, very reasonable. But I don’t know that we want anybody to control half of the U.S. Internet. And that’s the real basis for our objection to the merger.”

As you can see, Hastings is not shy.

There is lots more to discuss with Hastings, of course, such as the original programming hits that Netflix has in “House of Cards” and “Orange Is the New Black,” the changes in how Hollywood looks at online video distributors and, perhaps most interestingly, what comes next for Netflix.

Hastings, whom I have interviewed many times, is a compelling, clever and very sassy thinker, so he rounds out what is already an amazing lineup.

While the event has been sold out, we will be posting news, as well as videos, on Re/code throughout the Code Conference, including this interview.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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