Posted on 09/19/2011 5:56:25 AM PDT by Usagi_yo
On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 7:49 AM, Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO of Netflix wrote:
Dear Chris,
I messed up. I owe you an explanation.
It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing.
For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn't make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us). So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices. It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.
So here is what we are doing and why.
Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD. DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies.
I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service.
So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently.
It’s hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming.
Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.
There are no pricing changes (we’re done with that!). If you subscribe to both services you will have two entries on your credit card statement, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as your current charges. We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready.
For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that lovely red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo. I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard. I imagine it will be similar for many of you.
I want to acknowledge and thank you for sticking with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.
Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions.
Respectfully yours,
-Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix
p.s. I have a slightly longer explanation along with a video posted on our blog, where you can also post comments
You’ll have two separate accounts. One for NetFlix streaming and one for Qwikster DVD’s by mail. The price for both will be the same as what you’re paying right now.
If you go to Redbox.com, you can reserve titles. They will then ship them to your local Redbox.
It’s a pretty good system.
They need to fire their CIO as well.
I got into Netflix via the iPad app. The original one. It was great. A very convenient tool to have when something triggers a thought on seeing a movie and being able to look it up and add it to a queue. But then some genius decided to take that capability out of the iPad app. Okay, so I have to use safari. Then that same idiot decided to use mouse over crap on their webpage and the conveience of using the iPad was lost.
Then the price increase, and now this! Screw you Netflix, we’re done!
>>One for NetFlix streaming and one for Qwikster DVD’s by mail. The price for both will be the same as what you’re paying right now.<<
Here’s the problem. Let’s say I want to watch, “The Mouse that Roared”. I have to go to Netflix, see if it’s streaming and when it isn’t, log onto Quickster to find and reserve it. This was one step before.
It’s too much like work.
I don’t even know what Starz is.
"Only to all you city folk. Here in the sticks we ain't got broadband and probably won't for the next 10 years or so. Streaming is out of the question for thousands of us. I love my DVD by mail, saves me the 50 mile round trip to the Redbox. "
Dittos: While I have the most expensive Time Warner Cable broadband service available to residential customers, living in the country, if too many of my neighbors are using data intensive applications like streaming or audio, my data hose just starts to dribble.
Donning my flame proof jacket, the stucture of the internet is not yet at a point where such huge k/m/g byte intensive applications can be used in any appreciable quantity without severely impacting those of us doing normal page searches and downloads.
There currently is no Fiber Optic service in my area and because of the small population per square mile (that's the only criteria) it is very unlikely it will ever come to this town.
As more and more people use the internet for their own movie theater on demand, the situation for non-Fiber Optic customers will continue to deteriorate regardless of how much they pay for residential service.
I admit to watching GBTV (and putting up with the occasional "Loading" crap) but ONLY because I cannot get it via TV (which of course shares the same hose as the internet but a different part of the spectrum).
I like my Blu-Ray player and see no reason to clog the internet with that traffic and I never get a "Loading" icon.
Absolutely. I'm going with the best least priced service. In fact, that is how the free market system works. With the savings, I can contribute to politics or help fund my own business with the capital it needs.
This is what I don't understand. Do you mean the two new separate charges will equal what I currently pay (as in approx. $5.00/month each, totaling $10.00/month) or will the monthly charge of each new account reflect the price hike just announced recently (approx. $10/mo for streaming + $10/mo for DVD, for $20/mo total)?
Is anyone clear on this?
Unless and until their streaming catalog is the same as their DVD catalog, then streaming alone is not worth it. And they’re losing Starz, so the stream catalog just shrank.
The BoD needs to fire this Hastings idiot.
There is no way that Amazon’s streaming prices compete with NetFlix.
I was sick about a month ago and decided to get caught up with In Plain Sight. That one show had three seasons streaming on NetFlix. Had I gone to Amazon I would’ve had to pay $24 for season 1, and $21 each for season’s 2 and 3. That’s $66 for one week’s entertainment and that didn’t get my son the war movie or allow my daughter to watch one of her shows.
Amazon’s prices are stupid.
Bottom line is they did a bait and switch. I took the bait, but when the did the switch I said goodbye FOR EVER. I don’t cater to businesses that use these tactics.
Starz is like HBO and Cinemax. They are a movie channel and some original series shows.
We watch several Starz movies a week.
We did exactly the same thing. Dropped the DVDs.
Now I Redbox everything. If it’s older movies, I go to the Library for free.
This reads like a parody piece. Quickster??? Reminds me of “Napster.” New Coke, move aside.
AmazonPrime is 79.00 a year and the streaming is free.
Maybe so. But right now, it is a royal pain in the a**, at least in our area and, I suspect, many others.
I don't care to watch a movie which chops up every 2-3 minutes while the streaming catches up.
I'll gladly wait a couple of days for a DVD which I can pop into the player and watch without technical interruption.
Also, I don't want to hook up my television set to an internet connection and wonder who may be spying on me or selling me sh*t I don't care to pay for. Nor do I care to have the family come crowding into a narrow little corner of the computer space designed for one user to watch some crappy little choppy streaming program on a 19" screen.
Dunno if you have "RedBox" near you. By me, I can't throw a rock without hitting one of their kiosks.
Costs a buck a night. Selection is usually OK, Mrs WBill and I don't watch movies all that often, so we're rarely a loss to find something we're interested in.
The "plus" is that we only get movies when we feel like it - rather than submitting a list online and slogging through them. Drawback is that movies need to be returned, which, like I mentioned, by us is pretty darn easy.
I'd like the selection that Netflix affords, but (personally) see no reason to pay $100+/year to wind up watching a handful of movies.
Dunno if you have "RedBox" near you. By me, I can't throw a rock without hitting one of their kiosks.
Costs a buck a night. Selection is usually OK, Mrs WBill and I don't watch movies all that often, so we're rarely a loss to find something we're interested in.
The "plus" is that we only get movies when we feel like it - rather than submitting a list online and slogging through them. Drawback is that movies need to be returned, which, like I mentioned, by us is pretty darn easy.
I'd like the selection that Netflix affords, but (personally) see no reason to pay $100+/year to wind up watching a handful of movies.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.