:lol:

I would guess that since the streaming is now carrying the brand and the CEO is staying there, they are about to make some big purchases that way. As someone mentioned earlier, purchase something like Hulu and maybe the rights to a couple of larger catalogs of movies/shows.

Silly boy, where on earth did you come up with that idea?

I was thinking Jeffster...

Customers are not just complaining they are walking.

Last month (after the price raise) was the first month in the company's history that they lost customers and they were forced to downgrade their profit projection. Losing the convince of one stop shopping is going to cost them more this month. It is a hell of a gamble hopping they come back.

Yeah, that's what most are expecting. They'll probably make a splash somewhere else to offset that loss. Dropping the DVD part removes a significant boat anchor from their neck. CEO's do these moves all the time to remove the bad part of the business from the good so the other has a bigger opportunity to excel. That doesn't always mean it works, but it's a common move.

Truth. There is a reason that Walmart is so successful and that is the buzz word you used there "one stop shopping". Being able to have your streaming and DVDs in one place and be able to easily transfer a DVD to streaming when that ability is in place was one of the best things about Netflix. To stop that is just dumb.

Playing any sport in jeans is a good sign of awesomeness. I knew there was a Trix-something band I'd never listened to. Didn't consciously realize that it was actually Trixter though. That makes this even more funny.

Is there a reason the studios and rights holders are going to charge someone else a lot less then they charge Netflix for content?

People seem to be demanding a small flat rate for unlimited viewing of everything in existence and they're pissed off that Netflix can't deliver that...I'm not buying that anyone can - they would have already if they could.

Edit: And in their "Netflix rage" people are dumping Netflix and moving to Amazon - which has about 25% of Netflix's streaming content.

Who's to say that has to stop? Who's to say they won't continue to work closely together to let you cross-manage your queue's?

I had heard a number last week that said they have lost 4% of their subscribers since the increase. ANd a good article I just read on it: http://bit.ly/pTspDY

They did. Two separate sites and logins according to the release.

Thought I'd ask. Is there a good place to compare what's offered on the various online movie services? It's obviously very easy to move around, so maybe this is a good time for some shopping of services.

Well, for now I'm sticking with Netflix. Jimmy Neutron, Phineas & Ferb, and I keep finding enough movies to check out that it's not worth dumping. The Starz Play bits won't be that much of a loss for me, but if I lose the kids' shows I'll have to think hard about it.

from their CEO's blog post this morning (I linked it at like 130am a couple of pages back in the thread)

This is a pretty decent recent comparison

Netflix vs. Blockbuster: What's the best service for streaming and DVDs? | Crave - CNET

Maybe I'm the opposite of everyone else but I just don't use the streaming service as much as I would like. Deep down inside I would love to use it, but I just don't want to the The Naked Gun for the 10th time or any other 80s-90s-B junk crap they seem to fill it with. I love the Blu Ray side. It saves me a bunch over my local store who is the only service in town and charges $5 for one night rentals.

Does Blockbuster Online offer the same selection as Netflix for DVD/Blu Ray movies? If so I think I will move over there. There is a blockbuster about 20 miles away, could be cool to just drive there and swap things out on a Friday/Saturday night. Plus I just can't get over the new Netflix name. To me it sounds dirty/sexual.

Aaah - see I didn't read the whole press release. That seems silly & shortsighted.

Seems like a cry for a new CEO to me.

They didn't.

Netflix's Qwikster Problem: Twitter Account Controlled by Weed-Smoking Elmo

Stock is down around 3.3% today.

Interesting. Also from what I understand, they are adding rental games to this Qwikster. So to me, this makes sense. If they tried to maintain streaming, DVD, Blu-rays and rental games as one service, it would be a nightmare to try to compete with other services that provide that one service that most people want and they would stand to lose future business to services that focus on specializing in one thing.

With this, Qwikster (goofy name) can attempt to compete with Gamefly and Red Box and Netflix can continue to focus on moving on to better improve their streaming service. Even with its losses, they are still the king of streaming media right now.

Ya, not even consolidating reviews sounds like they're saying, "we don't even want to spend 10 minutes casting off Qwikster when the time comes".

Netflix comes across as a company that had a great idea, but no real vision.

I was thinking about moving to 2-DVDs by mail (up from one), dropping netflix streaming, and just relying on redbox/hulu plus/misc. roku for impluse viewing but there's so little out there outside of netflix for streaming. Even taking away the convenience of having one site, and evaluating netflix/quickster as two different companies - I don't see the other options appealing at all. Hulu plus has almost no movies, redbox is annoying, crackle and whatever the hell else is on roku is extremely limited in content as well.......I'm still on board with netflix/quickster. I may still dump streaming eventually, but only combined with increasing my DVDs out at time....There's nothing I really can't wait 1 day to see.

I'm agree. Between the fee price botching to this whole thing, he's driving this thing in the wrong direction and if the board is smart, they'll get his ass out of there. So they probably won't.

I forgot that Amway had a Quixter division.

Something like HomeFlix might be taken, but is a much better name if it isn't.

Watched Dear Zachary on netflix.. never watched a documentry that moved me from tears to rage in under 5 minutes quite like that.. you have been warned.

its defintely worth watching

Unbelievable doc, and it has been said in this thread, it's best to know as little as possible before watching it.

And he is coming around.... :D

Maybe I missed this in the Netflix funeral posts but Breaking Bad is now on instant streaming.

At the end of the day, I'll stick with Netflix until something that is better comes along or hits a price point we don't like. It suits our needs so, no sense in leaving.

Curious how much the video game piece will be though.

+1. Stock went down 7.37% on Monday and another 1.77% after hours.

Bill Burr:Let It Go.

Damn, I gotta think of the next lame Netflix spin-off name and grab the twitter handle. Poopster is taken. As is discfast.

I'd be posting every demand that was ever made in a movie...

'I want a hamburger... no, a cheeseburger. I want a hot dog. I want a milkshake...'

Awesome.

Absolutely horrible move by Netflix to not figure this out ahead of time.

I'm guessing Netflix isn't thinking anything through right now.

Note, if you sell your Twitter account, it's against the terms of agreement with Twitter.

And of course, the guy is a complete idiot. This is fairly high on the unintentional comedy scale, on several levels.

From Apple to Vudu: 8 Netflix Alternatives Compared | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

for all my criticism, for now I will be staying with netflix - my 4 kids watch netflix via the xbox more than any other option they have. they easily watch 50+ different things a month and like I said earlier I wasn't the least bit bothered by the price increase.

My entire issue with this is making this less convenient for the customer and how especially stupid a business move I think this is. I believe Netflix had a great position in content delivery for the future, but this move has hurt their reputation so much they reduced that advantage over Apple, Google and the like considerably.

Yes, the price increase I could understand. The studios were making it difficult on Netflix to not do so, and people who wanted the best for virtually nothing money wise were just being delusional. My problem is coming now when they make things less convenient for me. Depending on how much of a pain it becomes, I will factor on what I keep subscribing to and what I cancel most likely.

now watching breaking bad on netflix.. i almost purchased the dvd sets the other day.. my wife stopped me with "i think i saw that on netflix".. sure enough..

netflix has paid for itself for the year just on that alone :)

Here's another thing I just thought of. You get 1 extra stream plus one per disc on your plan. So right now I can stream 4 different things if I want to(I'm on the 3 disc plan) Once Qwikster kicks in, how is that going to work?

Netflix adds Discovery,TLC, and Animal Planet shows.

Hmmm now they are getting closer to what I like to watch.

My son just texted me and told me that DISH just bought Blockbuster and will be announcing a streaming service on Friday.

As a DISH subscriber I'm interested to see where this goes and how it compares to netflix.

DISH bought Blockbuster last April...

Is the time stamp bug back?

I would like Food Network programming.

Hadn't heard that but I guess the streaming announcement for Friday is new?

Yeah, I had heard that a big announcement might be around the corner, so that could very well be it.

This appeals to my personal use. I use the streaming a lot as background for when I'm doing work, and these shows have good stuff for that.


And this would top it off for the same reasons as above.

I wont be dumping netflix anytime soon. No matter how stupid I think this all is, the service is till very much a bargain even if they doubled the price. I pay something like 27 bucks a month for Netflix and over 100 for cable (not really cable but uverse, but whatever) and we easily watch 5 times as much on netflix as we do on regular TV

why, well because I have a wife and 4 kids and everyone wants something different. The only "TV" I watch is live sports and other live shows like the news or sportsenter. If it was just me I would get just a sports package - but my wife watches all kinds of stuff and the kids all have their favorites. Just easier to have the full package and be done with it.

Also I don't mind a technical glitch now and then. Nothing a nice quick reboot doesn't solve but that stuff drives my wife insane. If I am not home and netflix is not working she gets frustrated and just watches something else.

We also have hulu plus, a couple of Apple TV's, Amazon streaming (free with prime, but I have never think to look something up on it)

Not sure there was a point to all this sharing other then we have so many options and I have no issue bouncing from one to the other - but what so many more "normal" less technical users like my wife want is one simple solution to watch everything. for that I have high hopes for google TV

I put my streaming account on hold- but the addition of breaking bad, discovery, tlc, and animal planet could help bring me back.

Are they still losing the starz contract in a couple months?

Saturday Night Live: The 1970s.

Netflix snatches DreamWorks rights from HBO – USATODAY.com

Adding Dreamworks.

Talked to a friend of mine who worked at Amazon a year ago. He says talking with his friends who still work there, they are convinced that Amazon will eventually buy out Netflix. That the entire reason Netflix is splitting in two is so they can sell them easier.

The theory is that Netflix can be used to lure people into their new tablet. The talk right now is to give Prime away free with the tablet, and if Netflix replaces their Prime instant video, it's a pretty big lure. Now Amazon loses money on this but makes it long term since their video/music/app section is heavily built-in to the product. Not to mention the store. So they give it away for free, but you'll be doing all your music, movie, book and product buying off their tablet.

Just an interesting take I though I'd share.

Netflix added The Wonder Years to instant stream today. Hot Damn!

I read somewhere that they are missing season 4

The Walking Dead got added.

Looks like season 4 is there.

I really want them to get season 2 of The League on streaming. Season 3 just started on FX..

/tk

Just kidding everyone...

Netflix Abandons Plans to Rent DVDS on Qwikster

I wonder if this means they are going to abandon their video game plans too.

I'm sure some people will take them to task for this but at least they listened to their members instead of doing something that didn't make any sense.

(i.e. Big Ten legends and leaders and using the assine B1G moniker)

Hallelujah!

Steve Jobs, Al Davis.....an Qwixter. These things tend to happen in 3's.

Watched the entire series of "Commander in Chief" and I can see why it got cancelled, but it wasn't bad. Also started watching "Luther" and it's engrossing even while it's a bit crazy.

Luther is something I have been interested in seeing for a while. How far are you into it? Is it worth jumping into? Ever since seeing him in The Wire, it would be cool to see him on the other end of the law.

I mean, it's sort of a mess. But Elba is quite good and the woman who plays Alice is arresting. They make the plot holes worth it. I mean, it's not going to wow you compared to The Wire or anything (which I've only heard about, not seen), but..I think from what I've seen that it's worth checking out for a few episodes. I've seen two so far and I do want to watch more even as I've wiki'd to see what happens next.

Cool. Not everything has to be in the league of 'The Wire' in order for me to watch it. So I will give this one a shot.

whole episode leaves me with a lower opinion of netflix as a company - but I am very happy that they saw their error in their ways and made the quick and right decision to correct it. Have to give them credit for that, others in a similar situation would have stubbornly gone down with the ship.

No doubt in my mind that one day netflix will be a streaming only company and I agree 100% they should strive to be that, they simply need to build that side so it is strong enough to stand on its own and then no one will care about DVD's

as far as games, to me it makes no sense for them to enter that market as it too should be shifting from digital media to downloadable\streaming media as well. I don't believe any company in 2011 should be plotting a future centered around physical media. My kids will think of DVD's the way think of 8 tracks.

I'm sure when Netflix CEO Reed Hastings finishes bathing in his money pen a la Scrooge McDuck, he'll be really broken up that you love his company less than you used to.

;)

As the best way to listen to The Moody Blues?

I agree though, when streaming his robust enough people will just stop paying for the discs, just like we stopped going to the video store when Netflix became robust enough. Better to not get too clever I think.

The % of U.S. households with high speed internet has kind of stalled at 60% though. And as we know, U.S. high speed internet generally kind of sucks compared to a lot of countries, and I'm sure only a portion of that 60% is really fast enough for actual streaming movie watching. I think DVDs are here to stay at least until some national U.S. internet bandwidth revolution that makes high-speed internet pretty much free for everyone.

I have a 20M download. I also can have up to 7 devices streaming (usually I don't) in my house at one time, and I haven't run in to bandwidth problems yet as far as streaming movies, sports or anything else for that matter. I'm probably in that small minority you are talking about, but that kind of speed seems to be available for those who want it.

Just very very recently though. I didn't have anything above 10M down / 512K up until this summer, for example. Then AT&T built out enough that TWC pushed their wideband offering. And I live in a relatively well-off suburb in a high tech area that was once known for networking. So many other places are still stuck with much slower Internet. Plus it's expensive.

I currently have 25M download. I'm about to switch to a service that is 15M download (at&t U-Verse). Do you think I will notice any difference? I play a lot of xbox 360 over the net and stream some movies on netflix every now and then. Other than that, just basic surfing.

And anecdotally, when I go to redbox, it is, I think, a lower-economic kind of entertainment option. Which makes sense. If you're moving a lot, don't make money, have bad credit, are unemployed, etc, you're not paying $50-$100/month for high speed internet that you often have to make a year-long commitment for. I don't think we're getting high speed internet to those people as whole anytime in the next couple of decades at least (probably until all TVs have a built-in internet connection, and even then - that might just make internet service more expensive) DVDs have a long life ahead of them yet. I think Netflix is short-sighted for trying to go to streaming-only (if that's really what they're doing), and redbox is making a killing recognizing that a huge amount of Americans still don't have high-speed internet, and aren't getting it anytime soon.

After reading these few posts I checked it out. I'm also through two episodes. It's obviously not The Wire. It has that one thing that I can't fucking stand. CSI is notorious. The cops are stumped. The lead detective is sitting there. BOOM OUT OF FUCKING NOWHERE HE HAS THE ANSWER.


But yea, Elba and the red head are enough to keep me going.

I finished. I can completely get over the superman detective instincts. I thought the show as a whole was outstanding. What an ending. Plot holes. Whatever. Just a great ride. Now to check out BBC America and see when I can watch my season 2.

Hey Hosers, Strange Brew is on Netflix, eh.

Buck is a great documentary if you haven't seen it.

What worse? Streaming snobs or Donovan McNabb?

For, the, record, I, don't, move, a lot, and, I, do, have, a, job. I just don't like poorly encoded movies that can be accessed INSTANTLY (!!1!).

I have been a loyal Netflix supporter since 1999....I recently ditched my instant streaming in exchange for the 2 DVD out at a time plan, with the thought that I'd manage with Showtime and Redbox for new releases, and old school Netflix mail for everything else....And tonight - I can't even find my dvd queue on their website - or even an email address to complain about it. I've gone from laughing at Netflix price increase whiners to wishing this company would die in a garbage fire.

Really, they've cancelled Qwiskter, but have also utterly abandoned their DVD customers on their website....I'll give it a day or so to see if it's a web glitch, but really, are they going to drive me back to local video stores?

You won't notice a difference. Maybe some larger files will take longer to download, but it won't effect your ability to play games or stream stuff at all. 15m is still really good and likely more than most of their customers. I was doing fine on 10m and my parents work on 5m just fine.

Thought I'd mention that Amazon Prime added a bunch of new PBS stuff to their streaming selection. Frontline, NOVA, documentaries, etc. Going to watch Ken Burns Civil War tonight.

Borgia by Canal+ is one of the best adaptations of the Borgia story I've seen. I was sad when I got done with episode 12 today and saw they don't have Season 2 up.

I just logged in my then clicked on Your Queue and it list my DVD queue with my instant one in another tab.

Cool, that is good to hear.