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Netflix splitting DVD rental and streaming services

Let me be clear-I DO NOT WORK FOR NETFLIX and I think these rates are absurd and Netflix is going to lose a lot of customers

While I think the amount that they raised is a bit too much, I in some way do understand. Many of their existing contracts with studios are expiring soon and its not gonna be cheap for them to keep those contracts. The studios are gonna want more control and more say in what goes where and when and how much everyone pays. Plus, they have to start building infrastructure to deal with all their customers-what would happen if Netflix had a Sony style outage (length wise, that is) ? How many people would they lose then?

For those who want to fact check

http://money.cnn.com/2011/07/08/technology/netflix_starz_contract/index.htm?iid=EL

http://money.cnn.com/2011/07/12/technology/netflix_unlimited_dvd/index.htm?hpt=hp_t2

bottom line-unless the streaming content becomes relatively more in-line with what the DVD selection is, most will either dump streaming or dump it all together and go with Amazon/Hulu/Cablebox On-Demnand
 
How much of the fault in lack of competition is Netflix's fault? There's certainly plenty of competition in non-streamed, pay as you go rentals from both big and small names (Apple and Amazon on the big side, Jaman on the small guy side). There are issues surrounding net neutrality, but these companies could be doing more streaming in principle -- it's not clear how Netflix is stopping them.
 
mkrishnan said:
How much of the fault in lack of competition is Netflix's fault? There's certainly plenty of competition in non-streamed, pay as you go rentals from both big and small names (Apple and Amazon on the big side, Jaman on the small guy side). There are issues surrounding net neutrality, but these companies could be doing more streaming in principle -- it's not clear how Netflix is stopping them.
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Netflix has lots of streaming competition. What everyone is talking about is getting physical DVDs. Netflix has killed blockbuster and other video stores and now has little if none competition, renting DVDs.
 
I have Comcast Internet and TV, and just bought a newApple TV specifically for Netfix, and am currently on the 30 day free offer to try. If I cancel Netflix my old AppleTV would be fine so there's 100 bucks wasted.
Maybe.

I need to choose here soon.
Comcast for the two services is 150 a MONTH (that hurts). I was PLANNING on canceling TV and using Netfix, saving 100 bucks. Problem is that there are so few offerings on TV shows and movies it doesn't appear to be worth it.
Well, I WOULD do it, but my wife likes all those crap shows on the "Learning" channel.
Another good point is mentioned above... maybe we spend too much time in front of that and a computer, and instead do Netflix streaming ($8) Internet ($30) and RedBox ($3-$5 a month maybe$) and free library movies.
Sound like a deal? If so I will give you my wife's cell number. :D
 
They have the 2 rentals a month plan which would be perfect for me, but it doesn't include unlimited streaming (and no streaming period on a Netflix ready device - computer only) so that is a deal breaker for me. I wish they had limited rentals + unlimited streaming. Ah well. Guess I'll stick with my current plan.
 
Mine will be $23.98 which is a $4.00 increase for unlimited streaming and 3 at a time. I don't like it but it's not as bad as I thought. Problem is their streaming titles feel lacking.

I think others are worse off and have a right to be outraged.
 
Cheaper for DVD only is fine - I prefer physical copies anyways.

Very timely as ISP's are starting to implement data caps... And rumors are that the caps will be lower...

Constant Netflix streaming will push me over...
 
I am on the streaming-only plan already, so this change doesn't affect me. I really don't think people understand just how much money Netflix is planning on (and already) putting out to get streaming rights for popular content. Back when streaming was new they could get by with letting people stream for little to nothing, but that time has passed. We're talking individual deals that run hundreds of millions of dollars. They can either charge more to expand their streaming rights ...or remain the same and listen to people complain about how crappy the streaming selection is. Netflix users are already watching more streaming content than DVDs. Hell, there was just a story about how Netflix was consuming more bandwidth than P2P networks now. The hike is necessary.

If you want to talk about getting a raw deal ...we can always talk about Hulu+. You pay the same $7.99/mo, can't even watch all the content on your TV/iPod, and still have to sit through ads. Don't even get me started on cable...
 
Lol, that's ridiculous... The reason why I bought it was because it was like $10 a month... oh well, looks like I'm canceling my membership.
 
Ya, the streaming selection blows and sucks, HARD! I really use the streaming to pass time. The really good stuff is delivered via physical DVD and they still don't have it as soon as Redbox.
 
I had 3 out with Blu-ray + streaming - was gonna cost me $4 more
I dropped to 2 out with Blu-ray + streaming - and saved $1

Not happy, but still... cheaper than going to a movie once a month
Although I have been doing that as well
 
Plutonius said:
Netflix has lots of streaming competition. What everyone is talking about is getting physical DVDs. Netflix has killed blockbuster and other video stores and now has little if none competition, renting DVDs.
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Honestly, Blockbuster has been killing itself through incompetence. But fair enough, Redbox is an inadequate competitor. On the other hand, I think getting physical DVDs (in the mail or otherwise) is in slow death anyways. We use it (myself included) in large part because internet options aren't good enough. But at some point, this is something that is likely to go to the internet and not come back, much like postal mail volumes are not going to make a comeback -- there's no reason they should.
 
mkrishnan said:
Honestly, Blockbuster has been killing itself through incompetence. But fair enough, Redbox is an inadequate competitor. On the other hand, I think getting physical DVDs (in the mail or otherwise) is in slow death anyways. We use it (myself included) in large part because internet options aren't good enough. But at some point, this is something that is likely to go to the internet and not come back, much like postal mail volumes are not going to make a comeback -- there's no reason they should.
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What is going to happen when your ISP is no longer unlimited ? It's very easy to hit the cap on the providers that have a cap and eventually, all ISPs will have caps.
 
Plutonius said:
What is going to happen when your ISP is no longer unlimited ? It's very easy to hit the cap on the providers that have a cap and eventually, all ISPs will have caps.
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That is an issue that we'll have to deal with. Demand should foster competition to provide the services, and even if there are bandwidth caps, they should increase with usage, so that, like the mobile data caps, a few people need to pay more for extra usage, but most don't. I don't see anything wrong with the idea that one should have to pay for streaming video -- especially considering how large a chunk of internet bandwidth it is. But if enough users want it, the market is pretty likely to provide reasonably priced services or competition (for instance, cable TV is really expensive, but at least there are multiple alternatives, like TV over telephone and direct TV).

Either that, or we'll become a third-rate nation who can't keep up with developed countries like Korea, that have actual internet infrastructure, and can therefore participate in modern technologies like video streamed or downloaded to the home, and we'll have to watch all these innovations as locked-out third observers! :eek: Hopefully it's the former.

But I don't think the answer is to cling to the DVD -- even though I still watch more that way than any other way myself.
 
mkrishnan said:
That is an issue that we'll have to deal with. Demand should foster competition to provide the services, and even if there are bandwidth caps, they should increase with usage, so that, like the mobile data caps, a few people need to pay more for extra usage, but most don't. I don't see anything wrong with the idea that one should have to pay for streaming video -- especially considering how large a chunk of internet bandwidth it is. But if enough users want it, the market is pretty likely to provide reasonably priced services or competition (for instance, cable TV is really expensive, but at least there are multiple alternatives, like TV over telephone and direct TV).

Either that, or we'll become a third-rate nation who can't keep up with developed countries like Korea, that have actual internet infrastructure, and can therefore participate in modern technologies like video streamed or downloaded to the home, and we'll have to watch all these innovations as locked-out third observers! :eek: Hopefully it's the former.

But I don't think the answer is to cling to the DVD -- even though I still watch more that way than any other way myself.
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In a perfect world the cap would go up or the prices down. Unfortunately, it's about money and ISPs will charge what they are able to get. Once streaming is the only way to get video content, the ISPs will do all they can to rake in the money knowing that you have few options. I prefer streaming but that's why we still need DVDs / Blurays.

And we are fast becoming a third rate nation but that's another topic :D .
 
It's funny, in earlier discussions about iTunes and Netflix many people insisted that apple was making a huge mistake by not following the netflix model. That ignored the fact that Netflix contracts were expiring and the new ones replacing them were vastly more expensive, in some case going up 10 times. I kept pointing out that the NF model was unsustainable, they'd probably either have to raise prices or lose content.

Since then, the sony/stars content was yanked (with no warning to users), and now this major price hike.

NF is in a pickle, their costs are skyrocketing but if they raise prices too much they'll just lose customers. They definitely had an advantage over the competition with their initial contracts for content but it was a temporary one that is now evaporating.

It's funny how their major hike is in expenses is streaming content costs but they're passing that along to the DVD customers. It seems like they are just trying to push everyone to dump DVDs and go to all streaming, but with their current selection that's just not an option. As a convenient supplement to the minimal DVD plan, the streaming isn't bad. But if you go to streaming only, the selection is absolutely dire.

Really, the best plan had been using both since streaming is great for the content they have on it but DVD was necessary to fill the giant gaps. And that's the plan that had the price jacked up the most.

I guess the big question is whether to dump one part or the other or dump the whole thing. Is anyone else offering an all you can eat plan that's any better, particularly one that offers most of the content that's available on DVD right now?
 
milo said:
It's funny, in earlier discussions about iTunes and Netflix many people insisted that apple was making a huge mistake by not following the netflix model. That ignored the fact that Netflix contracts were expiring and the new ones replacing them were vastly more expensive, in some case going up 10 times. I kept pointing out that the NF model was unsustainable, they'd probably either have to raise prices or lose content.

Since then, the sony/stars content was yanked (with no warning to users), and now this major price hike.

NF is in a pickle, their costs are skyrocketing but if they raise prices too much they'll just lose customers. They definitely had an advantage over the competition with their initial contracts for content but it was a temporary one that is now evaporating.

It's funny how their major hike is in expenses is streaming content costs but they're passing that along to the DVD customers. It seems like they are just trying to push everyone to dump DVDs and go to all streaming, but with their current selection that's just not an option. As a convenient supplement to the minimal DVD plan, the streaming isn't bad. But if you go to streaming only, the selection is absolutely dire.

Really, the best plan had been using both since streaming is great for the content they have on it but DVD was necessary to fill the giant gaps. And that's the plan that had the price jacked up the most.

I guess the big question is whether to dump one part or the other or dump the whole thing. Is anyone else offering an all you can eat plan that's any better, particularly one that offers most of the content that's available on DVD right now?
Click to expand...

If you are going streaming only, you might as well look into some other streaming options.
 
Plutonius said:
If you are going streaming only, you might as well look into some other streaming options.
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Streaming only is worthless to me until somebody supports subtitles. Netflix currently has burned-in subtitles for foreign films but that is all, so for the most part is not worth the expense. I may go to dvd-only but there are times when I would use the streaming and I would hate to have to give it up entirely.
 
Plutonius said:
If you are going streaming only, you might as well look into some other streaming options.
Click to expand...

What would you recommend?

Streaming only isn't that appealing until someone has an offering that includes virtually all available content, basically what's available on netflix DVD. Is there an offering with that kind of selection?

I guess doing someone else's streaming plus NF discs (is there a better alternative to NFs discs by mail?) would be an option if someone else has a more competitive streaming option - are there ones with a better combination of price and selection?
 
milo said:
Streaming only isn't that appealing until someone has an offering that includes virtually all available content, basically what's available on netflix DVD. Is there an offering with that kind of selection?
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Unfortunately, no.

Check out hulu plus or amazon to see if they have more of what you are looking for. If you have cable or dish, you can also check out their on-demand offering.
 
We have Hulu+, and one disappointing thing is that most of their streaming options are available for the computer only, so if you have a DVD player or TV (or iPhone, iPad, etc) that supports Hulu, you're still out of luck. Hooking my MBP to the TV via HDMI works, but is a pretty kludgy option.

It won't always be like this of course, but streaming is still a ways from being a complete solution.
 
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