Netflix Splits Streaming and DVD

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/19/netflix-spins-dvd-by-mail-service-off-into-qwikster-says-its/

This may be bad news for Netflix, but at least they added a new game rental service, but to a different website named Qwikster. I am not sure I want two different accounts with two different bills since both websites are not integrated. I might switch just to their streaming services.

What are your thoughts on this news? Are you going to cancel your account?

 

Could Netflix be separating the two lines for a possible sale of one?

 

Netflix is in massive trouble. Sure they want to go to more streaming considering they spend over $600 million a year on postage, but with the loss of Sony and Starz, and HBO refusing to ever give rights to them, the streaming options are even worse than before. After march of 2012, Netflix is going to either have to pull a major client out of it's ass or they're going to spiral further down the hole.

If Vudu ever goes to a subscription based service, they will completely destroy Netflix.

 

What GS said. Their streaming is REALLY going to be hurt by the loss of the major players. With streaming performance of the HD content spotty at best, they're prime to get plucked by another company.

 

I got the email today. Nothing is going to change. I couldn't care less if the payments are split in two, it's not going to cost me anything additional. I'm happy with the way things are.

 

The outrage over the price increase was unreasonable - the cost of doing business changes, and prices reflect that - but this latest change is pretty crappy. Not only are users who want both mail DVDs and streaming paying more now, but they're able to do less with the service. They have to review a movie twice if they want it to influence their recommendations on both services, they have to maintain separate queues, and they have two visit two different websites to look through available movies to add to their queue. It seems like Netflix is trying to intentionally kill their mail DVD service.

 

When they first changed their payment plans, I cancelled the DVD part of it. Only because I hardly used it. The DVD's would come, they'd sit there, and most of the time I returned them unwatched. The streaming,however, I am clearly getting my monies worth. My daughter has been watching movies on her iPod while at her father's house. I won't take that away from her. I just wish they'd offer newer movies on it. Maybe one day...

 

Think about this for a moment, before you think that the streaming service is ok. Netflix was paying Starz $30 million annually for it's content. When it went to the negotiating table, Netflix offered $250 million per year to keep the content. Starz said no because they've had higher offers from other places and they wanted to protect their content a bit better. If companies are turning down a quarter of a BILLION dollars from a company, then the company offering the money is in serious trouble in most cases.

Amazon offers free streaming of movies and tv shows if you have a prime membership. They have far fewer choices than Netflix.. but just because Netflix boasts 20k streaming options.. it's kind of a moot point if only a handful of those 20k choices are worth watching and actually stream in HD as claimed.

Showtime is also reportedly considering pulling all content from Netflix but I haven't seen anything official on that. If Showtime splits, Netflix will have discovery channel, nat geo channel and... foreign films. That's about it. Starz, Showtime and Sony have always been the major content providers for Netflix. (Those Disney movies your kids like? Sony was providing them) Starz and Sony said BUHBYE... and I'm of the belief that it won't be long before Netflix says buh-bye in a less than glorious manner.

 

The Mac-centered blog Daring Fireball had a great question: why didn't they name the spin-off Mailflix?

 

And on the lighter side of things....

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/netflix

 

A good idea about that came up on Attack of the Show last night. They interviewed a journalist/pundit from some tech magazine who said that they probably wanted to keep the name as generic as possible so that it makes it easier to sell off. The name Qwikster only implies that something is being delivered quickly to the customer, leaving room for what that "something" might be if it finds new ownership.

Don't know how informed this opinion is, but its an idea anyway.

 

Nikilidstrom: That sounds like a reasonable explanation. Doesn't change that Qwikster is a terrible name and Mailflix would be superior.

Baraka_Guru:
That's exactly the problem: we're not there yet. One day, it will all be streamed and mailing discs will be absurd. That is not today. The cost of bandwidth is too high, the ISPs are uncooperative and the media producers are uncooperative. Again, I'm not a Netflix customer but I've wanted to be. In my imagined scenario, I'm much more interested in the disc-by-mail system for the superior media quality and to avoid Comcast throwing a tantrum because I'm actually using the internet connection I pay for.

 

HA! Thanks for this.

I still use the DVD service because the shows I am trying to catch up on our only in the DVD format. If I could, I would switch to streaming only. I do watch a lot of shows streaming though.

 

i actually read an article on this yesterday; it's not as much about bandwidth as you would think. it's more about licensing.

http://abovethecrowd.com/2011/09/18/understanding-why-netflix-changed-pricing/

personally, i stopped netflix at the beginning of the year because i was pretty caught up in terms of what i wanted to see and was wasting time poring through schwag.

at the end of summer, dexter had a new season out and i caught on to mad men... so the last month i had streaming and tore through 4 seasons of mad men and now i just switched to dvd's by mail to get dexter and a few other shows that aren't streaming. when you switch between the 2 services it's still about 10 bucks a month, and thats way cheaper than cable.

i thought it was dirt cheap before so i don't really have a problem with the split. the only thing i don't like is 1) that if you do both, you now have to do a search through both services to find availability and 2) i'm hearing that they're pulling shenanigans like hiding newer releases in streaming (e.g. starz stuff) because they have limited licenses on those. i've also always hated how they "throttle"(look that up' it's an interesting read) people who send discs back faster even though if they didn't do that it would mean more people getting to see newer releases faster by mail.

p.s. if you haven't checked it out, i recommend amazon instant video. they have tv shows and new movies at reasonable prices (cheaper than cable's on-demand) and they do .99 cent weekday and 1.99 new release specials, and the quality is really good.

 

Give Netflix 2 years at the outside... most likely less than one. They are bleeding customers and suppliers at a massive rate and have almost certainly entered what rate analysts refer to as a "death spiral". With luck, they will be able to sell themselves to one of the market vultures.

 

I think I am in my own "death spiral", even though I know it is counter-intuitive to do so; I pay the upcharge fee for / BLu-RAY Access\, while still getting great quality, streaming service, decent dvd mailings, so I ask- whats my deal? Why do.i obsess over blu-ray enough to pay extra, And who is in the same boat....paying extra for better quality of the same media?

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