Netflix hits the Rewind button
 

Yep, Guess there really IS a rewind button!:D



Netflix kills plan to split off DVD rentals
Oct. 10, 2011



NEW YORK -- Netflix Inc. is abandoning its widely panned decision to separate its DVD-by-mail and Internet streaming services because it would make them more difficult to use.

Subscribers will be able to use both services under one account and one password, CEO Reed Hastings said today in a blog post.

Investors saw the reversal as an Oscar-worthy move, sending the stock up $11.24, or 9.6 percent, to $128.45 in premarket trading.

Less than a month ago, the Netflix said it would split the DVD rental business off on a new website, to be called Qwikster.

Subscribers howled at the move, saying they saw Netflix as a destination for movies in general and didn't want to manage two accounts.

"It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs," Hastings said in the blog post.

In July, the company said that customers who want streaming movies and DVDs will have to pay for them separately. The "Qwikster" announcement was a follow-up to that change. Analysts saw it as a way for Netflix to distance itself from the older DVD business, which has less future potential than Internet streaming.

Even with Monday's premarket bounce, Netflix's shares have been savaged by the price change and the "Qwikster" initiative. They've lost more than half their value since July.

NetFlix has jumped the shark...

Here's the email I got today (yes, I am a subscriber),

Dear XXXXXX,

It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs.

This means no change: one website, one account, one password…in other words, no Qwikster.

While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes.

We're constantly improving our streaming selection. We've recently added hundreds of movies from Paramount, Sony, Universal, Fox, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, MGM and Miramax. Plus, in the last couple of weeks alone, we've added over 3,500 TV episodes from ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, USA, E!, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Discovery Channel, TLC, SyFy, A&E, History, and PBS.

We value you as a member, and we are committed to making Netflix the best place to get your movies & TV shows.

Respectfully,

The Netflix Team


So, what I gather from this email is that the price increase is still in place, they have simply consolidated the service back to one website. Big deal. This is all a coincidence to the fact that I was canceling my service this week anyway. I think their screw up is irreversible and their powerhouse status is gone forever. People like me have already been looking for alternatives and many have found them.

I think most complained about the price hike as well as splitting off. I don't think that $8 is worth 1 DVD at a time from them. I doubt the actual streaming costs them much.

I had a New Coke to celebrate.

Seriously. I am amazed at how people freaked out about the price increase, and yet they happily bend over and let cable companies stick it up their butt.

Let us not forget how comcast and other ISPs are trying (successfully) to bill by the gigabyte, which would make it impractical for their own customers to stream netflix (1 movie = ~1GB bandwidth = $1.50). Of course they will sell you that same movie via On Demand for $3+. God help you if you want to watch a whole TV series.

Then there's the movie studios who are raising their license fees.
And I imagine you need some pretty serious hardware to feed several hundred thousand streams (just a guess) all at once.

So I can understand why they might need to raise their prices.

As a customer, I was kinda mad that I learned about the price increase/ splitting of services, via news sources and not Netflix. That's what drove me to cancel. think I might pick up a few shares of b.buster penny stocks instead.

It's always been my position that Coke introduced New Coke just long enough for people to forget what Coke really tasted like, make the switch to HFCS from sugar, then take New Coke away leaving us with crappy "Coke".

I haven't had a HFCS Coke in at least 4 years.

One great thing about Texas....Mexican Coke everywhere.

too late. i already killed my netflix account and haven't missed it.

+1

News media were besides themselves as they announced Netflix was reversing their most recent and highly criticized plan to offer their customers a choice of streaming or physical DVDs; each at around $8/month (total $16) - up from just $8/month for both services.

Now they're back to one company at the same $16/month up charge. That falls under the category of BFD.

It seems most TV/Radio broadcasts cheered the 2 > 1 company move. However, they didn't mention the same two for one rate still applies. I fail to see any improvement in Netflix's policies.

What's the best alternate equivalent? Maybe the neighborhood DVD rental store will make a comeback; maybe seque into a version of niche book stores.

Sherwood

exactly. i am still not going back. netflix is dead to me. until further notice.

I just don't think it is worth the 8 bucks extra for 1 DVD at a time when I can rent them for .99 at the local convenience store. And no, the sound quality isn't the same streaming.

I killed my account when all this started. Got the "please come back" email last week. I thought I would just sign up for streaming. Well guess what? You can't just get streaming! It's DVD's by mail, or both mail and stream for the same $16 a month. They can f-off.

Really, when I went to the sight I only had the options I mentioned.