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Netflix

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Not completely fitting for this thread, but if you rent a $2.99 movie at Blockbuster this month you get one free $1.99 rental every day for the rest of the month ($1.99 movies are everything but new releases, in other words, everything not released in June).

I rented True Grit, and now I get 1 free rental every day for the rest of the month.

It's a way for Blockbuster to promote their new pricing. Everything is now a 1 day rental. New releases are $2.99, everything else $1.99. Extra days are $0.99 per day.
 
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One nice feature of Netflix is them airing extended versions of The Office, Parks & Rec and other shows. I assume these are the clips usually found on DVDs or the NBC show websites.

p.s. The Office didn't leave Netflix streaming early this month as the warning claimed it would.
 
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Again, not sure if this should be in this thread, but I don't think it deserves starting a new one.

All rentals at Blockbuster not on the new release board are $0.99, and $0.49 on Sundays. I believe brand new releases are $2.99 and other new releases on the wall are $1.99.

Blockbuster has really come down on their prices. Yes, all are now 1 day rentals. Yet for picking up something to watch that night, it's tough to beat those prices. Heck, I am thinking about clearing out whole sections on Sundays. It might strangely end up on my hard drive for later viewing, but 49 cents per rental is great.
 
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Netflix is jacking up prices:

http://blog.netflix.com/2011/07/netflix-introduces-new-plans-and.html

So for instance, our current $9.99 a month membership for unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs will be split into 2 distinct plans:

Plan 1: Unlimited Streaming (no DVDs) for $7.99 a month
Plan 2: Unlimited DVDs, 1 out at-a-time (no streaming), for $7.99 a month.

The price for getting both of these plans will be $15.98 a month ($7.99 + $7.99). For new members, these changes are effective immediately; for existing members, the new pricing will start for charges on or after September 1, 2011.
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The rationale? Doubling down on old tech!

Why the changes?

Last November when we launched our $7.99 unlimited streaming plan, DVDs by mail was treated as a $2 add on to our unlimited streaming plan. At the time, we didn?t anticipate offering DVD only plans. Since then we have realized that there is still a very large continuing demand for DVDs both from our existing members as well as non-members. Given the long life we think DVDs by mail will have, treating DVDs as a $2 add on to our unlimited streaming plan neither makes great financial sense nor satisfies people who just want DVDs. Creating an unlimited DVDs by mail plan (no streaming) at our lowest price ever, $7.99, does make sense and will ensure a long life for our DVDs by mail offering. Reflecting our confidence that DVDs by mail is a long-term business for us, we are also establishing a separate and distinct management team solely focused on DVDs by mail, led by Andy Rendich, our Chief Service and Operations Officer and an 11 year veteran of Netflix.
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Looks like I'll be downgrading my 2 Blu-ray at-a-time unlimited plus streaming plan down to a streaming-only plan very soon. If something comes out on disc that I absolutely must watch, I guess I'll just Redbox it. I'm sure I'm not alone, so have fun explaining that to your shareholders, Netflix.
 
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jlb1705;1952407; said:
Looks like I'll be downgrading my 2 Blu-ray at-a-time unlimited plus streaming plan down to a streaming-only plan very soon. If something comes out on disc that I absolutely must watch, I guess I'll just Redbox it. I'm sure I'm not alone, so have fun explaining that to your shareholders, Netflix.
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Yeah, now that HBO has streaming, I might dump netflix and go back to them.
 
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I was debating whether or not I should suspend my Netflix account with the return of football. This makes the decision rather easy. Their streaming catalog leaves a lot to be desired.
 
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Netflix Price Changes

Netflix is separating their DVD and Streaming pricing. Starting September 1st for current customers, 1 DVD out will be $7.99 and Unlimited Streaming will be $7.99, or $15.98 for both. $17.98 if you get Blu-ray movies. Old price was $9.99 for the bundle.

http://blog.netflix.com/

I'm probably going to drop to streaming only on August 31, 2011 and use Redbox to rent blu-ray movies. There's a couple of locations close to my house. Streaming on ipad comes in handy for my 2 year old when I want to watch tv and have her in the same room as me.
 
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You can be sure that quite a bit of this change is from studio pressure. It sounds like the deals they got in the millions will bump up to over 10x the cost into the billions. Netflix only has a couple hundred million in cash if I recall the numbers correctly, so they will likely be between a rock and a hard place when it comes time to renew contracts for content.
 
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First of all, we already have a Netflix thread in the OD forum, so I'm probably going to merge this thread with that one. I don't know if the merged thread is best suited for the OD forum or the Tech forum - but they should at least be together I think.

Secondly, I've read that the price hike is an intentional strategy to wean people off of physical media and into streaming-only. Judging by my initial reaction and that of many others, I'd say that part of the plan is working. However...

scarletmike;1953144; said:
You can be sure that quite a bit of this change is from studio pressure. It sounds like the deals they got in the millions will bump up to over 10x the cost into the billions. Netflix only has a couple hundred million in cash if I recall the numbers correctly, so they will likely be between a rock and a hard place when it comes time to renew contracts for content.
Click to expand...

If they have a relatively low amount of cash in their coffers, how do they plan to cope with a strategy that is prodding their customers to move to a lower price point?

Not to mention, did they think through the implications of a strategy that is likely to not only take away some of their business, but also push it toward their competition? (Redbox, PPV, iTunes, Amazon, etc.) Using streaming-only is OK, and that price alone is still a good value. However, their streaming catalog leaves a lot to be desired. A lot of prime content is missing and stuff that does find its way to the service seems to come and go with the wind.
 
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jlb1705;1953449; said:
First of all, we already have a Netflix thread in the OD forum, so I'm probably going to merge this thread with that one. I don't know if the merged thread is best suited for the OD forum or the Tech forum - but they should at least be together I think.

Secondly, I've read that the price hike is an intentional strategy to wean people off of physical media and into streaming-only. Judging by my initial reaction and that of many others, I'd say that part of the plan is working. However...



If they have a relatively low amount of cash in their coffers, how do they plan to cope with a strategy that is prodding their customers to move to a lower price point?

Not to mention, did they think through the implications of a strategy that is likely to not only take away some of their business, but also push it toward their competition? (Redbox, PPV, iTunes, Amazon, etc.) Using streaming-only is OK, and that price alone is still a good value. However, their streaming catalog leaves a lot to be desired. A lot of prime content is missing and stuff that does find its way to the service seems to come and go with the wind.
Click to expand...

As you were saying though, maybe this IS a campaign to get people to fancy the Instant streaming aspect of Netflix to ultimately make that their mark on movie/tv show viewing/playback. Thus, having all of the DVD only rentals go to the instant stream.
 
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Payroll, equipment maintenance, postage, and facility fees are probably eating up the majority of their cash flow. Trying to move people off of physical media will lower those costs, and if they can do it fast enough, it might be dramatic enough to put them in an ok position financially to make billion+ deals with each studio. I haven't a clue what the financials look like, but the costs associated with physical media is more than likely what kills the cash flow. People are hard on media they don't own, and when it is shipped in minimal packaging I would imagine replacement happens often. The costs associated with streaming, though initially high (servers, bandwidth, the content negotiations), is almost certainly far less over the life of the media than the physical copy.
 
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Any word on how many subscribers Netflix has lost? I cancelled the day before my next bill was due and right after they shipped me my last dvd. If they don't workout a deal to have new releases online I don't see these new plans working. If they were smart they would have their standard online plan and then add premium movies on top of that to take the place of DVD's. If they had done this and given me 5 premium movies a month for the $10 I was paying I probably would have stuck with them.
As of now I'm hitting up Drug Mart for $.79 Mondays I figure I'll pick up 2-3 movies a week and still pay less than what I was giving Netflix.
 
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