Is this a good idea for movie buffs?

[Guest mormonmusic]

I saw this news article and have this feeling it's a mistake for Netflix to make its customers work with two different companies and two different accounts and two different websites.

Netflix separates its DVD, streaming businesses - Yahoo! Finance

What do you think?

[estradling75]

Netflix is hemorrhaging users ever since it decided to pretty much double the cost for its services.

I understand that they have a bottom line to watch... But this looks like they are doing everything in their power to push through a failing plan that they hoped would fix it...

[NeuroTypical]

Meh. I can understand the whinging and complaining and leaving - but we love our NetFlix streaming and are very happy to have it. Dumping the one DVD via mail option was no biggie for us.

There is a portent of stormy weather ahead for the unlimited streaming video industry - I hope we can keep what we have for the price we currently pay.

[dahlia]

I got the email today about the two services. I don't know what else I can do - not everything I want to see is streaming, so I want the choice of getting a DVD. I think the DVD service will spin off or be bought by someone else eventually, but I gotta do what I gotta do now. Not happy, though.

[bytebear]

I tried Netflix a while back. Ended up with DVDs sitting on my TV waiting to be watched. I guess I just need to be in the mood for a specific movie, and waiting for it to come in the mail isn't worth it. Then I tried the In Demand, but their selection was about the same as I got with the In Demand from my cable company, so I dropped it. Now if I really have a need for a movie, I will use In Demand on my cable. It's more expensive per movie, but cheaper overall.

[HoosierGuy]

I've had Netflix for three or four years now with a few months break. I'm not into streaming on TV yet and get the disks in the mail. It seems they change their prices every three months. I like the service but I get the feeling whoever is running the company now is going to make some changes that takes this nice business down the drain.

[FunkyTown]

And they lasted just long enough to bankrupt Blockbuster.

So now we're going to have two companies that go down the drain and no DVDs.

[JudoMinja]

I'm completely out of the loop, lol. I just buy used DVDs at Hastings and watch stuff for free on youtube. I don't do any streaming or monthly commitments to anything. Don't even have cable. Guess I'm from the stone ages .

[Bini]

We cancelled our Netflix. BORING and a big disappointment.

[BenRaines]

I dropped my mail order DVDs as soon as they announced the price increase. I still use streaming but am considering dropping it too. I use REDBOX for current movies and can find a lot of the others online.

For TV shows I can find them at their network site. NBC.com CBS.com ABC.com, etc

Ben Raines

[NeuroTypical]

And they lasted just long enough to bankrupt Blockbuster.

I guess I will always love and honor NetFlix, for their help in pulling out the Blockbuster weed and having it's vile roots wither in the sun and finally die the death it so totally deserved for so long.

Out of the top five negative experiences I've had with companies, Blockbuster occupies two spots - one for it's horrible late return fees, one for it's totally abysmal incompetent theivery disguised as a DVD's by mail service.

Edited September 20, 2011 by Loudmouth_Mormon

[Dravin]

I see Netflix scrambling to stay cheap and afloat. My understanding is when they originally negotiated some of licence agreements for content they were smaller and the potential of what they were trying to do wasn't as easily grasped, so license holders saw a potential to make some easy money but letting them stream content.

Now you have the rise of streaming being built into TVs or through Blu-Ray players, the potential is more readily available and the number of people accessing the content (was at least) on the rise. The result was that when it came time to renegotiate the license holders realize that what they hold could be worth more, particularly when you have places like Amazon willing to try to get into the business. So now Netflix has to figure out how to obtain the licenses, and obtain enough of them as one constant complaint is this don't have everything, and still maintain their low cost.

You know I can see the content holders deciding to strike it out on their own, so you'll see Foxflix, Paramountflix, Sonyflix, and the like as they try to grab onto the golden goose. Thing is I wonder just what the price point is for which people decide it's not worth it, particularly those who have no compunction against bittorrenting their favorite shows and the only reason they watch it on netflix is because it's more convenient.