Netflix splitting DVD and Streaming fees (now splitting into two entities!!!)

[Kagath]

I've been seeing more ads from Blockbuster telling people to come back to them for less costs.

[th'FOOL]

I just read that the netflix deal signed with dreamworks doesn't go into effect until 2013?!  That's a long time to wait to get new content.

"That's the theory floated by Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter today"

We all know how well he predicts stuff in the gaming world...

[Bullwinkle]

[Crawley]

A boatload of TV shows and movies were put on Netflix the other day. One of the highlights is the entire The Wonder Years series. Some other notables are Frasier, Warehouse 13, DS9, and the last season of Psych. Not much in the way of maintream flicks but did see they had Tron Legacy up there.

[hepcat]

Yeah, I was surprised by the amount of new stuff that showed up.  I've been wanting to watch Warehouse 13 so this is a good thing.

[ibdoomed]

A boatload of TV shows and movies were put on Netflix the other day. One of the highlights is the entire The Wonder Years series. Some other notables are Frasier, Warehouse 13, DS9, and the last season of Psych. Not much in the way of maintream flicks but did see they had Tron Legacy up there.

You forgot Law & Order.... dude.

[hepcat]

A boatload of TV shows and movies were put on Netflix the other day. One of the highlights is the entire The Wonder Years series. Some other notables are Frasier, Warehouse 13, DS9, and the last season of Psych. Not much in the way of maintream flicks but did see they had Tron Legacy up there.

You forgot Law & Order.... dude.

I had to laugh when I looked at the number of episodes and it was around 255 or something.   

[Chaz]

Finally, DS9.  There goes my next few months.

[hepcat]

Finally, DS9.  There goes my next few months.

Have you seen the series before during its initial run?

[Bullwinkle]

Netflix Kills Plan to Split Into Two Companies

Wow, it's a real shitstorm over there.  I'll be shocked if they make it through next year.

Anyway, there are still separate fees for DVDs and Streaming, but it's all Netflix again, for what that's worth.  Investors seem to think it's worth a lot as the stock jumped after the non-split announcement.  I'm thinking users' sense of loyalty is just slipping away into the wind.

[wonderpug]

Ah, the old backpedal shift lanes forward pedal back-to-backpedalling move.  I'm on to you, <CURRENT COMPANY NAME>.

[CeeKay]

yeah, just got the email for that:

Dear Christopher,

It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs.

This means no change: one website, one account, one password…in other words, no Qwikster.

While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes.

We're constantly improving our streaming selection. We've recently added hundreds of movies from Paramount, Sony, Universal, Fox, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, MGM and Miramax. Plus, in the last couple of weeks alone, we've added over 3,500 TV episodes from ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, USA, E!, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Discovery Channel, TLC, SyFy, A&E, History, and PBS.

We value you as a member, and we are committed to making Netflix the best place to get your movies & TV shows.

Respectfully,

The Netflix Team

[wonderpug]

Respectfully,

[EngineNo9]

Cripes, what a bunch of jugheads. 

[leo8877]

Cripes, what a bunch of jugheads.

Seriously. What happened to all those reasons that required them to separate the businesses?

[theohall]

Cripes, what a bunch of jugheads.

Seriously. What happened to all those reasons that required them to separate the businesses?

Negative feedback actually worked for once.

[ibdoomed]

Cripes, what a bunch of jugheads.

Seriously. What happened to all those reasons that required them to separate the businesses?

Negative feedback actually worked for once.

This.

We complained. We canceled. We spoke out with "vocal" feedback and monetary feedback and, on what seems like a very rare occasion, THEY LISTENED! Hoorah! We should be celebrating. Ok, sure, it seems like they don't know what they are doing and while I'm not sure they do, I feel like rewarding them for actually listening to us.

Now the dilemma, blockbuster recently lowered the 1 out games/movies plan to $15/mo and there's no way I'm giving that up, so do I want to resub netflix disc service as well or not...

[CeeKay]

We complained. We canceled. We spoke out with "vocal" feedback and monetary feedback and, on what seems like a very rare occasion, THEY LISTENED! Hoorah! We should be celebrating.

today Netflix, tomorrow D.C.!!!!!  VIVA LA REVOLUCION!!!

[CeeKay]

wait, what does mean for the game rentals they were talking about?

[ydejin]

wait, what does mean for the game rentals they were talking about?

Apparently "game rentals are under consideration."

[CeeKay]

wait, what does mean for the game rentals they were talking about?

Apparently "game rentals are under consideration."

hmmm.. from what I understood Qwikster was supposed to launch in a few weeks when they announced it on September 19th, and games were supposed to be part of that launch, so you'd think they'd have a decent enough stock of them sitting around by now to make 'still considering it' pointless.

I wonder if this wasn't a shot at getting something else done that didn't pan out (like maybe selling one branch off to a bigger company) so they are backtracking while claiming it's 'because of the customers'.

[leo8877]

I just read that NFLX has lost 9 BILLION in market value since July, their stock is down from a 52 week high of 300 to around $80.  How is that guy still CEO?

[hepcat]

As idiotic as they appear to be now, I'd hate to see them close up shop.  I still consider it a pretty good deal for unlimited streaming for less than 10 bucks a month.  Especially since they've been adding a metric ton of tv shows the last few months.

[gellar]

I just read that NFLX has lost 9 BILLION in market value since July, their stock is down from a 52 week high of 300 to around $80.  How is that guy still CEO?

It has been an epic amount of fuckery.

[EngineNo9]

Apparently they have also lost 810,000 customers in Quarter 3 of this year.  Comparitively Q1 was a net gain of 3.3 million customers and Q2 was up 1.8 million.  Nice turnaround!   

[CeeKay]

no video games coming: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/25/netflix-q4-2011-earnings/

Update: The earnings call (just finished) was predictably boring, but CEO Reed Hastings confirmed the company has "no plans" to offer videogames for rental, which had been announced as part of the later-retracted Qwikster spinoff. As far as offering current season episodes of TV shows for cord-cutters, it won't be bidding on those either. When it comes to 3D, Blu-ray 3D discs are already in the mix, while the company is "looking into" streaming 3D.

[edit] and yikes!  56 day delay for Warner Bros movies to appear on Netflix: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/10/warner-bros-doubles-netflix-delay/

[EngineNo9]

Aww, double bummer.  I have been renting a lot more movies on the Zune Marketplace lately because it takes so long for me to get the new releases so longer delays are going to make that even worse.

Regarding the new 56-day delay for DVDs and Blu-ray discs from Warner Bros., it "didn't like" the new terms, but decided it was more efficient to keep a direct relationship for discs than to try buying discs from retail again, and expects more "differentiated dates" from studios going forward.

[Crawley]

To me another few months delay doesn't make much of a difference. If I really gotta see something I'll use Redbox but I've gotten used to not seeing new releases in the queue and have moved on to watching plenty of other stuff.

I am little bummed they aren't going to purchase current seasons of TV shows but if they add content as the seasons appear on DVD, or soonish after, that works for me.

[disarm]

To me another few months delay doesn't make much of a difference. If I really gotta see something I'll use Redbox but I've gotten used to not seeing new releases in the queue and have moved on to watching plenty of other stuff.

Exactly...always plenty of stuff in my queue, so delaying the new releases really isn't even significant for me.  If there's something I really want to see a little sooner, Redbox is right down the street.

[CeeKay]

and Warner Brothers gets even more petty:

Under the companies' previous agreement, users could add discs to their queues even before they went on sale. Warner executives apparently believed that policy made it easier for consumers to wait, confident that the discs would arrive eventually.

But now when users search for Warner's "A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas," which goes on sale Feb. 7, the Netflix website simply says the movie is not available. Consumers will have wait until March 6 to add the film to their queues and until April 3 to get it in the mail.

on another note, apparently Redbox said no to the delay.

[corruptrelic]

Don't know why people keep defending Netflix when we're the ones paying them.

Between the Starz breakup and now this, I just cancelled my Netflix membership.

On jetflicks I have just about every new TV show out and countless old ones to watch, yet with netflix it's hard to find something good to watch these days. Just wasn't worth it anymore.

If they iron out some new agreements like they had with Starz (where we could watch the current season of Spartacus, the new starz movies, etc.) with other studios, I'll probably rejoin.. but seeing as how I logged into netflix maybe 3 times in the last month and didn't see anything worth wild, no real point in hanging on to it anymore.

[Crawley]

On jetflicks I have just about every new TV show out and countless old ones to watch, yet with netflix it's hard to find something good to watch these days. Just wasn't worth it anymore.

I see this comment about nothing to watch or nothing good on Netflix a lot and it confuses me since I've discovered so many unexpected TV shows and movies there I really enjoy. What specific TV shows or movies that are "good" are you expecting to see?

[hepcat]

+1  I've found a ton of stuff to watch.  It seems like they've been beefing up their foreign films division more than anything lately and I've discovered some real gems in the process.  I consider the cost of my subscription to be money very well spent.

As for jetflicks, I don't really consider that a viable alternative.

[CeeKay]

I see this comment about nothing to watch or nothing good on Netflix a lot and it confuses me

yeah, I have 231 entries in my instant queue, 130 of those TV or anime series, so I have quite a bit to justify funding Netflix for quite some time.

[EngineNo9]

Probably as a bit of salt in the wound, Amazon has one of their open letters on their website saying they have just signed another deal to add 2000 more videos from MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, TV Land, and VH1 to their Prime Instant Video streaming list. 

I wonder if Xbox is ever going to get an Amazon streaming app on their dashboard now that they have the app setup.

[Azhag]

If xbox got an amazon app (or my blu ray player) I'd get amazon prime...

[Bullwinkle]

My TV is supposed to have Amazon Instant, but it never works.  

Their collection is great, I just have no convenient way to view it.

They could kill Netflix if they would just come to consoles.  At least for me and a number of people I know.