Did Netflix just fuck themselves?
 

I just got an email from Netflix that was written by the CEO of the company that basically apologizes for their lack of communication and how they took advantage of customer loyalty recently. It goes on to say that they are full separating the DVD and streaming services. The streaming will be called Netflix and the DVD will be called Quickster. Here is the catch. The prices will be the same, but they will be two completely different sites and will not be integrated.

One of the things I like about Netflix is that if I find a movie I want to see it tells me if it available on streaming or not. Now I won't know that. As a bonus they are going to include video game rentals with the DVDs.

I imagine this comes as part of them losing around 2 million subscribers in the last few weeks due to the price hike and they want to be out in front of Dish Network which purchased Blockbuster and is rumored to be making a big announcement in the streaming and video by mail world as early as this week.

I have a feeling once they split off I will be canceling the DVD section. It is kind of a pain in the ass to maintain two different accounts and I'll just rent from red box or whatever. Who knows if blockbuster/dish network does something cool I might even switch.

Seems like Netflix might have just screwed themselves out of even more customers. Or they are packaging up the DVD part of the business to sell to someone else.

I've been seeing and reading a lot of articles on this recently. Apparently, they lost far more customers then they had anticipated. At first, when making this announcement, they seemed almost cocky, saying they expect some customer losses but oh well. I think that attitude is what cost them more customers than they expected. Not to mention their streaming selection is shrinking instead of growing thanks to the Starz deal falling through.

Now their stock prices dropped and all of a sudden they care about their customers again. Blockbuster, who let their company fall into ruins may now have the perfect opportunity to start their climb back to the top.

Interesting that you mention their cocky attitude they even mention that in the email and how they treated their members with a lack of respect. They could have gotten away with that a few years ago when they were the only real game in town, but that is changing quickly and I have a feeling if they don't replace that starz deal with something equally as good or better they will lose more members. There are some people who think that Starz will come to their senses and take Netflix money, but you never know.

Aren't they in the red since day one anyway?

They did NOT lose 2 million members. All the people complaining about the price increase( which is actually wasn't for most anyways ) need to ask their managers at Burger King for a raise. The DVD side was holding streaming back. I find it funny that peole keep saying "More newer movies on steaming Netflix" then when Netlix does what is necessary to do that people bitch about supposed "price increase"

Most of the people who quit were morns who will be back. One they figure out "Hey I can't rent 10 DVDs a month from Redbox for $2" which is what they expected Netflix to continue doing.

Until there is a solid replacement, none of this really means much other than to the fickle consumer. Nexflix is a great service. It would be nice to see more current/new movies, however they have a nice selection of classics and documentaries in addition to TV shows.

Just because they insulted a few clients will not create a mass exodus. As one of the other posters has said, they do not want multiple accounts. Most people are not going to have one for Quickster, one for Netflix, one for Hoolu or whatever. People want simplicity and one bill. Not dealing with 10 different providers.

In the end, whomever offers more value at a decent price will win.
:2 cents:

I've had the same Netflix DVD at home for one year. I wouldn't even say I use Netflix streaming that much either -- maybe a documentary here and there. I'll probably send that movie back and forget about the DVD service. I couldn't even be bothered with having to add movies to my Qeue.

I either use the VOD from my cable system, or I wait for it to hit HBO, SHO, MAX etc, and just DVR it. My DVR is full of movies that I missed in the theater and DVD.

If I have to see a DVD that same night, I go to Red Box, which isn't the best as far as selection, but better than nothing.

Frankly I think customers have been totally overreacting. Even at the higher price, they offered a service that nobody else did and will save you more money and provide more convenience than running to Red Box for movie night.

With that said, they have been taking a beating from stockholders. Netflix has very plainly come out and said that they want to drop DVD service and go fully streaming, which is where the future is headed. I would not be surprised if their intention is to sell off the DVD division at a later date and their streaming division will already be self-contained, making less hassle later when the sale comes about.

I agree that people are making a stink about nothing. Having read Hastings statement, it makes total sense -- as they are to different types of services filling different needs. I don't think the original intent was to gouge anyone. They just have to do what they need to do as a business -- anyone that doesn't like it can suck it and find a mom and pop vid store. Good luck with that.

Yep lots or morons having hissy fits over nothing. Fact those on steaming only never got price increase. Those that just wanted DVDs only got a price reduction from $10 to $8. Thes 2 groups make up 50% of netflix subscribers. Of those that wanted both only the 1 DVD at a time subscribers got the "60% increase". And I'm sorry as I said you can't rent 6, 8 or 10 DVDs a month to someone for $2 and make a profit.

People talk about "lost" cusotmers" Netlix's PROJECTIONS of customers is what is lower. Netflix PROJECTED 25 million subscribers by the end of the 3rd quater. Now they are PROJECTING 24 million. Anyways here's the breakdown

24 million subscribers

12 million streaming and DVD - 50% of subscribers
9.8 million streaming only( down from 10 million ) - 41% of subscribers
2.2 million DVD only ( down form 3 million ) - 9% of subscribers

Losing those DVD only customers is actually a GOOD thing for Netflix. Oh by the way Qwikster will now rent video games which in my household would be welcome so we might actually add the DVD part to our subscription depending on pricing.

yeah real dumb moves by Netflix.

A good example of when stockholders need to shut up and look at long-term, which they very rarely do.

RE: Did Netflix just fuck themselves
 

Yes. 8 Char

Blockbuster is now owned by DirectTV. They have a deal with Starz and will be relaunching the DVD in the mail/Streaming service in the next few months. This is the perfect time for them to get some of the marketshare back and I'm sure they will. I will have no problem making the jump back to BB after this Netflix fiasco.

Actually they are owned by DishNetwork.

Fiasco? Do you think you will get streaming/DVD by mail for less than $16 a month?

You're right, it's Dish Network.

I don't care about the price. But I do like the fact that it will be one service.

I don't need another bill. Another site to log into and keep track of.

So yeah, calling what's going down with Netflix a fiasco isn't all that far fetched.

Well lets' see people that drop Netflix DVD and went to RedBox but kept Netflix streaming have to have 2 accounts don't they? One for Netflix one for Redbox.

Thre fatc is too many fucking idiot customers and investors couldn't get why DVD and streaming needed to be seperate( hence the price increase ) so it left Netflix no choice but to seperate them with different names to bring the point home to the mentally defunct.

I thik you are going to be disappointed by the whole BB/Dish thing

This is a bump in the road. Cable subscriptions are falling. And it is Netflix that is doing that. I don't use them but I think of dropping the cable and just using them to make up the difference in entertainment.

Haha... netflix just went backwards 10 years, when everyone else is moving forward.

We have redbox and others trying to figure out streaming, amazon duplicating netflix, and many others like fb working on branded streaming services which will bring in studios. Hell, you can watch on-demand, instant movies on your damn smart phone now in full cd quality, let alone play them to your tv and pc as well.

If they keep going in the direction they are, they will be gone in 5 years.

Let me know when post this in english.

streaming is the way they should be going. dvd's will be dead in less than 5 years.

If you can't understand what I wrote then your brain is fucked up.

I'm a happy Netflix customer. They are fucking dirt cheap. can't be beat for the value.

No i don't because it doesn't make any sense.

Truly, if you can't understand what I said, then you're an idiot... straight up.

One thing we should get straight is that RedBox is no Netflix. Redbox is great, but the selection is probably .00001% of what Netflix has. EVERYTHING that exists is on Netflix.

RedBox gets a small percentage of what just came out -- and it takes longer for them to actually start renting it. I use the RB all the time, but if I wanted to see Buster Keaton in The General, I'd have to use Netflix.

Like Hollywood is going to give RedBox an easier time than Netflix. RedBox will still have to make deals with studios and they aren't taking less money form RedBox than they would Netflix. How will RedBox have an advantage?

$79 a year and has MUCH less content.

That'a joke right? limited content ALL of it PPV. Let's see $5 per movie or $8 a month all you can watch. If I'm doing PPV I might as well get it from my cable company or Vudu or Itunes or Amazon or rent a DVD form RedBox for $1.

You can watch Netflix from your TV, PC and smartphone too. Did you have a point to make?

Redbox is one of many various services to match 'your' needs... I don't use rebox or netflix, but I do subscribe to hulu plus, I'm not much into movies, but I do like to watch my tv shows when I'm ready...

Notice the words "and others"..... rebox is one service, not "the" service.




$80 a year, or 6-7 a month, for multi-device content that is growing? It's not like netflix started with the content they have today. AND it's another service to compete with.



It's another service to compete with... one with a much much much much much larger user reach.


Netflix on your smartphone sucks ass & they don't have the rights to most things, not even the biggest does, hulu...... and DVDs do not instantly port to other devices.

i've yet to rent a dvd from netflix, but i really wish netflix canada would catch up with the regular netflix

And none of them will have an advantage over Netflix. Hollywood will be asking for the same money from all of them. Hollywood doesn't hate Netflix because it's Netflix. They hate streming because they think it's a threat. So they aren't just going to welcome other streaming service like Netflix with open arms.


That's fine but until Amazon gets more content I'll go with the one who has the most. Also none of Amazon's movie content is in HD.

Netflix has 24 million subscribers and dispite what the haters are saying that subscriber base is growing.

what does that have to do with your post? You implied that Amazon and FB etc have these great streaming services you can use on your smartphone. You can't.

Hulu.... studios will without question go with other services, which is only 2 of probably like a 100 or so paid movie services already.


They have HD, most of it is hd... and more users & more money, they just need more movies, which money buys.


A loss of 1 million subscribers is not growth and 24 million vs 500 million people using FB? Netflix still hasn't beat out comcast ppv, which costs a lot more - so people ARE willing to pay more... personally, I don't care if netflix is growing or not, I just can see they're going backwards when most others are trying to provide more.

It has to do with more options.... that's how it relates to my post.

No I didn't imply anything, I said "Hulu", but you assumed amazon and fb for some reason.

I love netflix. Even though I am in Canada and don't get as much choice as the US netflix I still think it's great and super cheap. I find I actually don't watch regular tv anymore. I'm thinking of dropping my cable subscription.

maybe one side of the departments is making money and the other losing

Fuck them. I canceled my membership a few months back. You can't get ANYTHING worth watching that is new on streaming anyhow. Just a scam. If I want to have hard good shipped to my house, I will go back in time and sign up to Columbia House again. :1orglaugh

How is it a scam again?

Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam. Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam. Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam. Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam. Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam. Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam. Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam. Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.Scam.

pretty stupid IMO. 2 different services now, thats just silly.

seems like they are just trying to get the DVD business to fail and dont want it to effect streaming :2 cents:

I would pay $20 a month for just streaming service if they had movies worth a shit to watch....But with my satellite I don't need it anymore and I'm about to cancel.

Some would call it "not being a thieving scumbag who freeloads, hoping everyone else will pay for their self-entitled ass".

I just did a little looking around. You are right. They didn't lose 2 million members. They have lost around 1 million since the announcement of their price increase and expect to lose another 600K or so this quarter so it looks like they lost, or are expecting to lose, around 1.6 million.

The thing is, exactly how has Netflix "done was is necessary" to get more newer movies on on streaming? The way I see it they are actually staring a decline in streaming movies in the face. The deal with Starz gave them a decent number of newer movies on streaming, but the problem was many them were only for a limited time and now that entire deal is in jeopardy of going away. If they do lose that deal they will need to spend that money somewhere to get more newer content or they will see less available to customers not more.

I'm not saying Netflix is a bad service. For me the price is fine. I end up getting 3-4 DVDs per month which would be $9-$12 per month if I got them at blockbuster. I could save a few bucks by going to redbox, but chances are I would end up keeping them a few extra days and spend the same amount. I also watch a decent number of streaming movies and TV shows so it is well worth the money I pay for it.

That said, it looks like their might be more competition on the horizon and to me splitting it into two sites with two accounts and not being able to have them interact (IE seeing if a movie you searched on DVD is available on streaming without having to go to the actual streaming site) might drive some people away. They have said that they see the future as just streaming so I guess it makes sense that they will split them and eventually sell/close the DVD group, but it just seems to me like they are going about it in a strange way. I have always thought the idea was to make things so that your customers had do to as little work as possible and got the most value possible and it seems Netflix is kind of going away from that. At least for the moment.

well, nobody pays for porn anymore and nobody buys anymore, so why should I buy?

no way dude.. if nobody buys me porn from the sponsors I promote, I will not buy hollywood movies either.

its a big circle..

if people don't spend money in porn, I get no money to spend on other things.

please let redbox contact me for streaming..lol

I dont get it. this company was so great. they toggled shippments which I can understand from a business perspective. you would think they would learn from the class action lawsuit. What I don't understand is why google doesn't buy blockbuster and compete head on with them. who wants a stream service that is basically like HBO.

Still wrong. They PROJECTED 25 million subscribers by the end of the 3rd quarter now they are only PROJECTING 24 million. That's not an actual loss. Of that 1 million, 800,000 is on the DVD-only side which is money loser anyways.

Netflix current deal with Starz is for $30 mil a year and expires in February. Netflix offered $250 mil per year. Starz wanted $300 mil and wanted it available to only those customers that had BOTH the streaming and DVD packages. Now was that a deal Netflix should have made? Is Netflix the "bad guy" in this situation? Netflix now has $250 mil a year to give someone else for content.

Dishnetwork owns blockbuster now they bought them a few months ago for $300 millon

Are you in this business?

if the future is just streaming they need to be able to offer any movie in print. They might need 2 price points. $30 month for anything streamed. or just get tv streams, or non-new release stream for $15 month. something like that. I believe they went wrong buy not looking at the porn model. For $29.95 month you get access to all the sites in our network.

Before they can charge those prices they need the actual content. Content which at this point Hollywood is not going to give up. I'm pretty sure in porn the content producers don't make it as difficult for websites to actually show their content. Hollywood will come around it just takes time. Remember Hollywood tried to kill the VCR once.

Or......they will eventually sell the DVD business. Take that money and use it to get more streaming content.