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Eunice Beady

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Aug 2, 2024, 11:59:26 AM8/2/24

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It's hard to know what to do when you have millions of users and have such a huge market share. However, it seems like Netflix could have grandfathered in people, even for a period of time. I suspect their subscriber base is so large that it would not have been advantageous. I watch mostly streaming now anyway so I'll probably drop the 2 disk to 1 disk to keep my price point.

I don't really understand why people are so up in arms about this. Everyone that I know who has Netflix with the DVD plan simply did it because it was next to nothing over the price of streaming alone. The discs just sit on a bookcase or in a drawer somewhere and collect dust. It has been obvious through the way Netflix have been marketing themselves that they are trying to move away from the discs because of the hassle and cost of everything that goes along with having to mail the discs. They were probably hoping that this bump in price was the nudge that got people off their seats to find those discs, send them back, and switch to streaming only.

My thoughts exactly! The people who were with Netflix from the beginning should take a second and remember the prices and plans from back then. When the streaming was introduced, it wasn't unlimited, it was expensive, and the selection was pretty laughable.

Bottom line is, if you want Netflix to continue offering up a great selection of video AND continue (like they have) to aggressively add new content to the fold, then the pricing will have to periodically need to be adjusted. Especially since their contracts with the studios are about to end.

And I would rather have one big increase than several smaller ones. But that's my opinion. In a few days, it'll settle down (it already is), and I'm sure Netflix will be just fine. After all, they have more customers than Comcast (and if that company can hold onto customers, Netflix certainly can).

And I would much rather pay $15 or $20 to Netflix and have an almost endless supply of great things to watch than spend $80 to Comcast and be constantly flipping channels trying to find something decent to watch.

Where it gets complicated is Comcast is my ISP and I have been completely without cable television for almost 2 years. Comcast has recently set bandwidth caps for internet use. They also own several cable channels. What's to stop them from doing everything in their power from making Netflix's services run slower, lower the caps even more, or even block services like Netflix when they see that I am not dishing out the big bucks for their premium cable services?

These are interesting times we live in. As these companies that offer conflicting services along with services that rely on other companies to be fair and honest they will resort to shady actions. Not necessarily illegal, but the Comcasts and Time Warners are going to do everything in their power to make Netflix as inconvenient as possible.

I am considering the switch to Blockbuster for my Blueray rentals, the priciing is the same except you get moves a month earlier , they have a larger Blueray selection and with also having a larget inventory that means less waiting once a film is available.

Blockbuster does not have a streaming service that i would use but this means that I can reduce my Netflix bill from shy of $30- and now only pay them $8- per month or $96- per year and that is if Amazon Prime which has the same content as Netflix does not become my streaming provider.

so now that netflix has crush every mom and pop store and look's and feel above everyone knowing it was from the help of millions of people who have an account with them who thank's when someone say's i have something cheap then what you have would last forever this company did what they needed the do by putting people out of work and this company has now showed other company's if you wanna pocket millions of dollar's offer something cheap over the internet and by mail and you will shut down every local store and mall and in this store's are people who like you and i have the pay bills keep a roof over you and you kids head and food in they're mouth this company does not care cause if they did why don't you hear all hiring they're doing all you hear is how big this company is getting and all the money thats being made cause people love staying home and being lazy streaming all day so keep raving about have great is the stream and how cheap the price still is and that is the first of more the come

This is really about a price hike, with zero improvement to the plan. Netflix streaming has never been great. Typically old or foreign movies dominate the selection. Add to that the deals made with studio's to release new DVDs late, and you could argue that they are decreasing their services , and increasing prices. Not a good combination.

It's just amazing that Netflix didn't invest more in PR consultation. The method employed basically gave their customers REASON to LOOK for a better deal. It's hard to maintain customer loyalty when you basically say, "Yup, we're raising your bill! You've been getting a heck of a deal up until this point, now you're going to have to pay what you ought to for what you were (actually for less than you were) getting."

It seems that Netflix wanted to send two messages with this tactic:
1. Netflix is going to move to primarily a streaming service, and that's final.
2. Netflix is supremely confident that they have a superior service at the lowest price, and will continue providing said superior service for the foreseeable future.

After working in computer software, founder David Cook decided to open his own video-rental store in Dallas, Texas. His company was different from other rental stores because it offered customers a selection of 8,000 VHS tapes with the help of a modern, computerized check-out process, while other, smaller rental stores could only offer a couple hundred movies.

Blockbuster was known for charging customers a fee for every day they were late returning a movie rental. In fact, Blockbuster said it made $800 million in late fees, or 16% of its revenue, Quartz reported. This frustrated many customers, including Netflix founder Reed Hastings.

Hastings said he founded Netflix because he did not want to pay the $40 in fines he'd racked up at Blockbuster. In its early stages, Hastings' company, which had no late fees, would send DVDs straight to your house for a flat monthly rate.

Blockbuster considered buying the popular Netflix service for $50 million, but the company decided to not make the purchase. Netflix went on to become even more popular and more profitable than Blockbuster.

At the same time, Blockbuster decided to end late fees. It was estimated that it would cost the company $200 million to stop collecting late fees and another $200 million to start the new venture, Blockbuster Online, according to a Harvard Business Review article by former CEO John Antioco.

The standalone Blockbuster says it's still in operation because of its loyal customer base, citing the fact that the store has 4,000 accounts and signs up new customers each day. The store also said a large number of tourists visit the store to reminisce about the former rental company.

The Bend, Oregon Blockbuster couldn't afford the millions of dollars that a real Super Bowl ad would have cost. Instead, it posted its own homemade spot to Instagram and YouTube during this year's halftime show, the Los Angeles Times reported last month.

Fans of Blockbuster spotted a recent change to blockbuster.com. Whoever manages the website added "We are working on rewinding your movie" below the company's logo. Insider's review of past versions of the website using the Wayback Machine internet archive suggests that the change was made sometime last summer.

The revision, plus some tweets from the official Blockbuster Twitter account, caused some fans of the brand to speculate that it was planning a comeback, Hot Hardware reported this month. The company did not respond to Insider's request for comment on its website and tweets.

Netflix is also getting out of the DVD-rental business. It announced it would end its DVD-rental services on September 29, 2023, according to an official Twitter account dedicated to the DVD-side of the business.

When I saw this story come across my RSS reader, I almost spit out my drink. It seems that Blockbuster (in an attempt to remain relevant) is trying all kinds of new things. Let's face it! Netflix kicked your butt and you're in a fight for your survival. I get it. However, you have to realize that while you were hell bent on charging me obscene(more than the movie cost) late fees back in the day that someone (Netflix) figured out a way to eat your lunch by letting customers keep their movies as long as they wanted for one flat rate. Netflix continued to grow their business by moving BEYOND THE DISC (MEDIA) MODEL and partnered with every company they could on delivering (TiVo, Sony, Microsoft, etc.) streaming movies.

The fact that one of your newest ideas involves customers walking up to a kiosk and downloading a rental or getting a rental on a memory card shows me that you still don't get it. The "drive to my local movie rental store to pick up media" model has a very short life ahead of it. Maybe it's just me, but I think you should be investing more towards getting movies into the hands of your customers via the Internet and on mobile devices. You made a great first step by hooking up with TiVo. Although I'm happy with Netflix and iTunes I did cheer for you. You should really continue in this direction!

The fact I can rent a movie right on my Apple TV in my living room should make you guys really nervous. Partner, Partner, Partner. This will be the key to your survival. Look at the boxes people are buying and hooking up to their HDTVs and do whatever it takes to get on those boxes at a reasonable price to your customers. Competition is great! Compete!