Netflix To Split Streaming & DVD Plans
polycounter lvl 11
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/entertainment/125429613.html
If they improve the streaming quality and content, I'll stay on after the 1st. If they don't though, it will be yet another streaming service that I leave.
If they improve the streaming quality and content, I'll stay on after the 1st. If they don't though, it will be yet another streaming service that I leave.
Replies
Is this their way of trying to fade out DVD's? I know they cost the company more money. I wonder if this will give Blockbuster/Family video a spike in business? I know I'll probably be opting to go there and keep streaming.
My wife and I love the streaming service, but we're not trying to watch the latest episode of the office or whatever(we have Hulu for that).
I am annoyed that the rate for both services is going up to $20 though.
Basically I buy DVD's, and rent streaming, so it's not really gonna effect me right now. But for the people it does effect, that's a pretty big price increase. I see a lot of people leaving Netflix. Although they'll probably come right back after a month or two...
Does anyone use Netflix/Hulu as a cable/satellite replacement? Just curious.
Hehe thats funny, I basically stopped buying DVDs and sold most of mine when I started using Netflix, buying DVDs is a waste of money to me now. I've got a small selection of stuff I want to watch more than once, anything else I can wait 2 days for.
We use Hulu/Netflix as a cable replacement, yeah. Its great, we watch a lot of stuff we otherwise wouldn't, and we spend a lot less time watching terrible shit *just because its the only thing on*. When you go off cable, you really realize how much just absolutely horrible TV shows you watch that you dont even like.
If they fix both of those things, I'll stick to just a streaming plan--don't watch the DVD's enough. But if streaming content gets worse, I'll probably close my account.
As far as show selection, I do wish it had more, but I'm pretty happy with what's there. It's too bad some of the movies have to expire, though. That sucks.
Also, I buy DVD's cause I LOVE movies. There's several I've seen 10 times or more, and will watch again. I love the behind the scenes features of DVD's (there needs to be MORE behind the scenes features for games, dammit!), and the commentaries, and all the extra bits for some of my favorites. But I totally get why some people would see it as a waste of money (it kinda is), when there's streaming options available.
Streaming wise, it worked great. Even on the PS3, which I find in general, is terrible at streaming, because of weak buffering abilities. Their interface is horrible for finding stuff though. Oh, and anything that Eddie Murphy was involved with, was DVD only, unless it was his shit movies. I found it odd, since even his SnL video was DVD only, even though every other comedian was available.
so you mean the Netflix master plan all along was to stream flix to me over the net!?
I'm surprised they still even have the DVD by mail option, I'm fairly positive they'll drop the mail program entirely within the next few years.
https://www.blockbuster.com/signup/m/plan
Theirs includes blu-ray and games. It's too bad they treated customer like shit in the past, because this is the perfect opportunity for them to recover some market share. Too bad they don't offer a streaming option.
My girlfriend and I do with Netflix streaming. and it works out just fine for me. I can catch an episode of Pawn stars or TNG before i head to bed. Thats about all i could ask for. She gets her SVU fix and its a happy day, lol
although i do miss my sportscenter
alls i need is my sweet sweet streaming
My cost won't increase until September though, so the end of August I'll drop back to just streaming. Then if I want a major rental I can just hit up Redbox.
Netflix is lax on it's streaming shows though. Like they have Season 1 ONLY of Californication and Seasons 1-5 of Weeds, but not 6? Shit like that annoys me. It took them like 2yrs to get all of Top Gear on streaming. So annoying.
The real fucking pisser here is Comcast. They have a 250GB data cap on internet (includes download AND upload combined). A normal HD film is nearly 10GB for something that's not noticeably compressed. That's only 25 movies per month. While in the scheme of things that's a lot, I tend to leave shows streaming on a monitor while I work. Then you add up other shit like Youtube, Hulu, torrents, tutorial videos and browsing art sites (big image downloads) - your bandwidth vaporizes pretty quick. In the past 6 months I've twice gone over the 250GB limit but luckily was not in the top 1% of "overusers" so I wasn't notified (went over by 32GB and 15GB, respectively). If you get notified twice in any duration of time, they cut you off from the internet for 1yr - no exceptions. Pretty bullshit IMO.
With all of the content online right now, this limit should be doubled or better yet, eliminated. The internet really needs to be considered a basic utility, much like water and power, in that every person should have access to it no matter what, so long as they pay their bill. Carriers don't want that to happen but these days, internet access really should be a protected utility.
Not only do we use it for entertainment and venting, but business, finances, education and communication. Forcefully cutting people away from that access is cruel.
Maybe the lesson here, which shouldn't really be a surprise, is that people want everything for free (or near-free).
The problem for me it's not the amount of the hike. For me it's the lack of explanations from Netflix to do it.
The service seems to remain the same it has been for years and all of a sudden they say they are going to charge more. If they said they are getting way more stuff on Instant Stream and they listed all of that new content that they are getting due to that extra money I think people wouldn't be that upset.
Netflix: Because we can.
Me: So... isn't that douchebaggery? You hook people with one deal then switch it on them?
Netflix: You can always take your business elsewhere... oh wait BWHAHAHAHAAAA!
Me: Sum-b!tch... motha... why I atta... oh ok here's my card, have your way with it...
/que 70's porn sound track
EDIT: I've also heard they're looking to boost their stock price (wall street likes dick-ish cash grabs), raise some quick cash and make a few acquisitions. This helps those plans greatly.
Have 60gb
I think that's overlooking their situation a bit.
When Netflix started streaming videos, they were the only ones to do it. That meant they could set the rates with studios. If someone like Universal or Paramount or whomever wanted any money at all for streaming content, they went to Netflix and took what Netflix was offering - no competition, so Netflix set the terms.
Now, there's Amazon VOD, iTunes, Hulu+, etc. Netflix can't just go to the studios and demand low licensing fees like they could in 2008, because another company will just step in and offer the studios more. That drives costs up for all of the streaming services, including Netflix, and of course that cost gets passed along.
You can already see the cost for Netflix in terms of lost media. Just last month, Netflix lost their rights to stream Sony movies due to contract rights. Netflix can still send out the physical DVDs, but Sony's not going to re-up the sweetheart deal for streaming properties - the tables have turned and now the property owners have Netflix over a barrel.
Sony used to charge Netflix $30 million a year in streaming rights. According to the Netflix CEO, he anticipates that Sony will now demand nearly 7 TIMES as much, with $200 million a year. Netflix either raises prices to compensate or goes bankrupt paying higher fees and charging low streaming prices. That's just how the free market works, whether Netflix are douchbags or not.
Here's an article with the Sony/Netflix story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/18/sony-movies-netflix-instant-play-starz_n_879727.html
I wonder if Sony is gearing up to start its own service through PSN? It would make sense, it seems like streaming is going to be a huge part of the next console cycle. But then again they may not want BluRay to be replaced so quickly after spending so much to make sure it won the HD disc wars, which could explain why they could be asking for so much more from netflix... Trying to offset the cost of BluRay so they can push forward with something else. BUT that barely covers the cost of the hacking so... who knows...
I agree the underdog thing makes for better PR, but maybe that makes for an even bigger loss of subscriber base? Hard to say. Either way, it sure is funny when competition causes consumer prices to go up rather than down. The upside of capitalism is a little overrated sometimes.