Maghound, Time Inc.’s new magazine subscription service, is not a “Netflix for magazines.” But it still has potential.

This conflict of interest causes a host of problems. First, negotiating with rival magazine houses can be a chore. “The tone of the conversation changes when we’re talking about Maghound with publishers that don’t compete directly with Time,” Ventresca said. The problem is that Time Inc. is by many measures the largest magazine company in the country; most major publishers do compete directly with Time. As of now 70 companies are signed up with Maghound, but some biggies are notably missing. Condé Nast—the privately held publisher of Vogue, Vanity Fair, and many other popular titles. As is Hearst—Cosmopolitan, Harper’s, and O, among others. (Hachette, which peddles Car & Driver, Elle, and others, is signed up.) Most readers don’t know which magazines are owned by which conglomerates. The first time they search for Condé Nast’s New Yorker and can’t find it, it’s going to be a problem—one that potentially handicaps Maghound’s growth. And steady growth may be the only way the site can convince the original holdouts to come aboard.

Ironically, this is one of the few areas where Netflix may actually have some advice for Maghound. But that’s not a good thing. A few years ago, Netflix created Red Envelope Entertainment, an in-house production and distribution arm for independent films that didn’t have any other outlet. It picked up some notable films (Reprise, No End in Sight, and SherryBaby, among them) and made some waves in the industry until Netflix shut it down this summer. According to Variety, the company couldn’t keep the product going because “the company (was) competing against the same studio suppliers it was negotiating with every day over DVDs and streamed content.” Netflix didn’t even give Red Envelope titles special treatment, and the conflicts of interest were still too overwhelming.

Maghound’s situation could be somewhat similar. Of course, Time Inc. won’t shut down if Maghound does. But it’s unclear whether an industry as territorial as publishing is ready to fully embrace a service like Maghound while it takes cover under Time Warner’s umbrella. In the magazine business, it’s hard to become an industry messiah if you’re in cahoots with your Creator.