"The gripping, serialized one hour drama has become a very important part of the Netflix experience," said Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos. "David Fincher's unique vision, the indelible performances of Kevin Spacey and the original version of House of Cards, all have a big following among our members, giving the series a very good chance of becoming a fan favorite. We are thrilled to be working with this amazing team." But purchasing original content that is neither tested nor cheap is an unusual and risky move for Netflix, particularly considering that service can already claim streaming rights to some 8,300 movies and 24,000 TV episodes and has previously brushed off the possibility of such a deal as unlikely. On a fourth quarter analyst call in January, CEO Reed Hastings calmed entertainment industry fears by saying: "It's certainly possible that we'd compete [for studio content] on an exclusive basis.