Netflix Is Moving To Get Big Fast More Overnight Service Firm's aiming for profit and a million subscribers in second quarter of '03.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)

Byline: PATRICK SEITZ

Netflix Inc., which rents out digital video discs via the Internet, hopes to turn regional success into a national phenomenon.

With a network of distribution centers, it's offering overnight delivery of DVD movies in 10 new metropolitan areas. The company plans to expand on its growth in the San Francisco Bay area, where it's offered overnight service for two years. Netflix has signed up subscribers from 3.1% of Bay area households.

Netflix offers next-day delivery in Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Seattle and Washington, D.C. Prior to setting up distribution in these cities, it shipped only from its center in San Jose, Calif.

The subscriber rate is "still rapidly climbing in the Bay area," said Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings. "If we can get anywhere close to that in the rest of the country, that's a big business."

Netflix is on a mission to get big fast. It has 600,000 subscribers who pay $20 a month to rent as many movies as they want -- with up to three discs out at a time.

There are no due dates or late fees. Subscribers get the discs via the U.S. Postal Service and return them in postage-paid mailers. As each movie is returned, Netflix automatically mails the next available title on the subscriber's online list.