Comments on: Netflix Fractures, Creates Qwikster

By: Johanna

Johanna — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:26:48 +0000

You know, a monthly Blockbuster fee would be great — if not for the fact that I don’t know where or if my city still has one!

By: James Schee

James Schee — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 04:33:50 +0000

I was in my local Blockbuster Video today, and they are campaigning like heck to get the lost Netflix customers. With both an in store program that allows you to rent as many movies & games a month as you want for $14.99. To a mail order program that also allows you to exchange movies and games at stores, plus doesn’t charge extra for renting BluRay and video games like Netflix or whatever they are calling themselves plans to.

By: Chad

Chad — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:25:32 +0000

“…Netflix’s audience is people who would rather pay a monthly fee than engage in piracy. Of those, far, far more make that decision based on convenience than on any kind of ethical objection to piracy (or fear of being caught at it).”

You know that for a fact?

I’m one of the people who doesn’t use torrent sites because of an ethical objection to piracy, but I have no idea whether or not I’m in the majority on that, and neither do you.

By: Lyle

Lyle — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 12:54:42 +0000

I agree with a lot of the complaints here. I would add a couple advantages Netflix has for the moment.

- Thanks to the being available on newer TVs and video game consoles, it’s much easier to watch streaming Netflix on your TV.

- Hulu Plus is available on some video game systems but if your internet connection isn’t consistent Netflix does a much better job of handling the bumps. When we tried Hulu Plus on the Xbox, it took longer to load videos and the videos were more frequently interrupted. This made the ads on Hulu more irritating since they were another badly-handled interruption.

For what Netflix Watch Instantly does, it does it the best, though that probably works more as goals for its competitors to reach. The Netflix needs to work to stay ahead of the pack.

The split is a huge mistake because it really hurts the convenience of Netflix. Their streaming movie choices are going to get worse. Right now, the moves not on Watch Instantly are still available in another format. The split means there are a lot of movies Netflix won’t have at all. It turns them from a bookstore willing to special order that title you can’t find into one that won’t look if your book is in their system.

Netflix is trying to deal with the closing of movie titles by emphasizing TV* and it could make the product continue to be worthwhile… but only if there’s still a way to get all the other stuff.

* I think the studios are wrong to see Netflix as a threat because of this. At the least, they should look at the service as a way to make money off of titles they don’t think they can sell as a DVD set, shows like Terriers or Beauty & the Beast. You can provide plenty of entertainment that way and it’s another way to sell the content.

The studios are already looking a cloud products as the next step from streaming, except they can demand people buy the right to stream each movie or show, so not offering a complete library Netflix becomes a lot weaker.

By: Thad

Thad — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:28:23 +0000

@Ed: Netflix still has, hands-down, the largest streaming library for the lowest price. That’s why they’re confident enough to tell their customers where to stick it and just accept the million-subscriber loss.

Of course, “largest library for the lowest price” comes with the usual asterisk. The largest library for the lowest price is, in reality, Pirate Bay, and Netflix’s audience is people who would rather pay a monthly fee than engage in piracy. Of those, far, far more make that decision based on convenience than on any kind of ethical objection to piracy (or fear of being caught at it).

In short: Netflix may weather this storm, but had better not raise its prices again before 2013.

By: Chris G

Chris G — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:39:54 +0000

And on top of all that, Netflix is pretending the offerings via streaming are as deep and recent as those available via DVDs. But they’re not, not by a long shot. Streaming is great for comfort shows (Cheers, Star Trek series, etc.), kids’ programming, and finding weird older movies but if you’re, say, the parents of a small child and so make it to a theater maybe twice a year, streaming is never going to let you see recent movies in a timely fashion, especially once Netflix’s deal with Starz ends in a few months.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 12:56:12 +0000

That’s the biggest hurdle I see to all this — streaming may be what the company wants and maybe even what the users want, but it is NOT what the studios want, especially not at one low monthly price. (They want to sell movie-by-movie at excessive rates.) And they’re the ones with the rights to the content, which they’re already pulling off the service.

By: hardtravelinghero

hardtravelinghero — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 12:38:41 +0000

I am a user and I’m not happy about the split for the costs most of all. It’s a crap economy and the company wants another $6 if I want both services?

I believe I’d read in Wired, about a year ago, the founder never wanted to do the mailing feature and that ideally rights to stream everything on DVD would be purchased, but we know this has not happened.

By: Ed Sizemore

Ed Sizemore — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 11:12:17 +0000

It seems that Netflix has been looking to get out the DVD business for at least a year. It’s no surprise that the “Netflix” name is going with the streaming company. I suspect we will see Qwikster up for sale very soon.

With all the other streaming and On Demand options out there, why should I keep my Netflix account? That’s what customers are really saying, Mr. Hasting.

By: Suzene

Suzene — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 04:16:37 +0000

I got a Netflix account about two months ago, just in time for the nonsense to start. Some aspects of the new announcement I do like — the ability to rent console games and movies from the same company is a big plus for me. I also wasn’t terribly put out by price hike; for the moment, there’s plenty on their streaming service for me to watch if I want to plop down for a spontaneous flick, I have a healthy queue of DVDs, and all of the video entertainment I need for $20 a month is a better deal than cable. But splitting the service between streaming and DVD is, IMO, still badly timed, as it’s more hassle for customers still smarting over the price hike. This isn’t the way to build confidence in the new business model.