Posted on 09/16/2011 12:57:06 PM PDT by LibWhacker
They should’ve let long term customers grand father in at old rates. As for me it works out but of course now I pay less. I wasn’t really using the DVD and Blueray home delivery much so it actually worked out fine. Where they have hurt themselves is the way they did the whole thing. I’d be pissed if I got to the end of the month and I’m getting nothing new and suddenly I’m paying more than twice as much. Companies often forget that one key to success is keeping things simple. Customers like simple and zero stress arrangements.
My biggest criticism for Netflix on content is they really need to enhance their interface. They have added a lot of content but it just isn’t really organized very well. What Netflix needs is to add a vudu type service so that you can build a personal online library that can be played on any device as well as have an adhoc selection library.
They should reverse course on this or at least fix it by providing so many months free etc. They have a good model but they are going to run into more barriers as networks and cable companies enhance their own ondemand content.
They still have 12 million subscribers on DVD, and about 3/4 of their inventory is not available on stream. They ain’t quitting DVD any time soon.
Your suggestion is exactly how Netlfix stream works on my bluray and web interface. You can add things to your instant queue which is there no matter which device you access from, and you can always search the library and just grab something.
They can’t reverse course on this, the fees they’re paying went from under 700 million to over 2.5 billion, they’re just passing on costs.
I am actually paying less now since I dropped the dvd service and use streaming exclusively now.Yep. We pay a lot less now too -- dropped the streaming service.
I have an LG 570, Best Buy had two LG 590’s on clearance for $70 each so I bought them both.
No Amazon but I love the DIVX channel. I watch about as much computer nerd stuff on DIVX for free as I do Netflix streaming. My kids really like the Netflix streaming though.
I hope that Netflix doesn’t drop DVD though, I watch a lot of old TV series on DVD.
Ditto That!
While talking to my tow truck driver yesterday :( he said he uses his friends Netflix service - apparently it can be put on 5 devices to watch - his friend gave out service to 3 people.
I watch streaming tv/movies for free on the net so the only interaction I have with Netflix is deleting those stupid pop-ups.
Amazon Prime is addictive.
I don’t go to the store anymore. Get internet quality price competition, and no shipping, and 2 day free delivery.
I use it for Christmas presents every year - guys can get away without wrapping.
Amazon Prime
Hotwire
Priceline
NewEgg -
Ebay -
I haven’t gone a store (other than grocery) in about a year. And NEtflix will get me to kill cable - as soon as I get off my butt and do something.
Mine went down as well. I have only one possible internet provider at my location and it is too slow to stream movies so I no longer have to pay for that option.
I understand that and I use that but I’m not talking about the instant library of mostly old movies and tv shows which is impressive and I like very much. They however need to add the ability to purchase content that will never go away like VUDU. Also they need to do something to get more instant next day content like comcast and other cable companies have. If comcast can get it they should be able to work something out.
Netflix is great for kids but what amazes me is the amount of older content they don’t have. They have very little Christmas stuff but they have tons of gay lesbo stuff. What leads to that kind of strategy? I also wish they’d let me control exactly what is available in my library. Just let me add shows to a block list or even better limit certain devices so that only kids shows can be available? Instead its an all or nothing thing for all my devices.
There are lot of things Netflix could do but as cable companies enhance their offerrings they are going to find themselves in the same kind of place Blockbuster was in if they don’t become more agile. I’m a big supporter of Netflix but they could’ve done all this in a much better way.
That’s all I have...I can wait for the stream release....I like it and price is good.
The next time DIRECTV increases my bill one cent - I DROP THEM!
my month ends on saturday for Netflix.
Netflix will be dropped on sunday
Exactly what I've done. Our entertainment budget will only stand about $20 over what we already pay for cable, so if Netflix gets too big for their britches, we'll drop them altogether!
Works like a champ !
Well your vudu stuff might never go away. Remember what’s gone on with the kindle when Amazon lost their e-license to some books, and those were on people’s kindles, vudu’s stuff is entirely on their servers. If they lose their license to a movie you bought for stream it’ll be gone POOF.
A lot of the older content they don’t have is a matter of license. NBC has a lot of their old shows on the stream on their website, so they aren’t putting them on the stream on Netflix. I just did a search for Christmas and it came up 110 pages, lots of it with the blue stream button. Don’t know about gay lesbo content, never shows up in my suggestions.
I don’t think they could have done things much differently. The streaming requires a separate license. Every time the go to the content owners for that license it’s the balancing act, they need to find a way for the owners to make more money letting Netflix stream than doing their own stream. As you point out more and more networks are doing their own stream, and they’re going exclusive. Netflix can’t stop them from doing that. The one thing they’ve got these guys beat on is the devices, pretty much every internet enabled entertainment device out there has a Netflix client, and unless they have some kind of wide open net browser they probably can’t get to NBC/classic TV, or HBOGo. This limits their competition, but it doesn’t stop the competition from trying. As long as these companies don’t want to let Netflix stream their stuff Netflix has no choice, except possibly offering to pay a lot, which quadrupled their license fees, and forced a rate hike.
In the end though they’re still in the strong position because of the devices. And I think they’ll win the battle. I’m not going to stream anything off NBC because my bluray doesn’t do NBC and connecting the computer to the TV is more annoyance than I’m willing to do. So whatever revenue NBC thinks they’ll get from doing their own stream they won’t be getting from me. What they probably need to negotiate is portal style, let NBC keep their stuff, but portal it through Netflix, thus NBC gets access to my bluray and still gets the revenue they wanted by keeping it in house, and Netflix gets the added bonus of not having to store all those shows on their servers.
Some of it may be related to the increased cost. Some of it may be that people realized the value proposition isn’t there at the new price. Maybe that is the same thing, but I think the price made them realize they weren’t getting all that great a deal to begin with.
I have no dog in this fight. I pay a fortune for premium cable (with modem) AND I pay for netflix basic too. But the netflix movie collection is weak. I don’t watch TV shows with rare exception and don’t care to see past seasons of 2 1/2 men or MASH or Cheers! or almost anything on TV today. If you like old movies that never were very glorious, netflix is great. All the Goldie Hawn you can desire!
But if you want first run movies, I saw Harry Potter Part 7 in the Red Box for $1 a day! (not sure if Red Box is everywhere, and I have never used it, but I did see it there). And the studios will get smarter about this, and the cable companies and DSL providers will try to get a cut out of it.
For movies the traditional method was First Run Theater, Second Run Theater, For sale (DVD/VHS) + High Price rental, then Pay Cable, then low price rental/
discount sale.
The future will look more like First run theater, second run theater, High price rental + On Demand + For Sale at Full price, then lower price rental then to your local cable company HBO types, then to Netflix and low end rental. The main difference being, you will be able to buy it on demand in your own home from the cable provider. Netflix will get into that game too, they will have to pay for it, and their model has to change to accomodate that.
I know I said a lot for someone who has ‘no dog in the fight’ but the underlying issue here is stock price valuations. Netflix has a market cap of $8 billion today, down from $16 billion. That is an incredibly high valuation for a company that simply distributes other people’s content on other people’s infrastructure! And the movie studios, cable companies etc are not happy about the implications. I expect NFLX could drop to $10 a share in a couple of years time, as it really has no added value in a market where serious competitors can emerge - amazon, google, time warner, etc...
None of them stream amazon? that’s weird. I use the Roku player, since I don’t watch video games or watch blu ray. It streams amazon, netflix, hulu, mlb etc.
You are correct. I looked and the price of my plan streaming plus 1 DVD went from 9.75 to 15.98 effective 9/1
I am going to cancel the DVD rental and do streaming only. The cost will be 7.99. They loose. I don’t need the DVDs anyway. I got a DVD/Blueray library of over 2000 movies anyway.
I’ve never watched blu-ray. you don’t miss what you’ve never had! :-P
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