Qwikster
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So, the changes in the price structure by Netflix have been explained today. Apparently they're spinning the DVD-by-mail portion of their business off into a new brand and site, qwikster.com. This leads me to ask one thing. Are they TRYING to kill their DVD-by-mail service? They're taking a well known, household brand and breaking the service that made them relevant in the first place off into a new, unknown name. Not only that, but they're splitting everyone's queue in two. The streaming/DVD dynamic worked extremely well together in my opinion, now they're making things twice as complicated. Is it just me, or does this seem like a huge mistake to anyone else?
Also, apparently they're adding video games to the DVD by mail service. That much I think is a good idea.
Also, apparently they're adding video games to the DVD by mail service. That much I think is a good idea.
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They're moving the DVD-by-mail business into its own space to use it to raise money to increase their buying power for future digital delivery. They want out of the mail business, but the only way they'll be able to do it is to be able to provide release-day (or pre-release exclusives) digital delivery. The only way they'll be able to do that is with fat wads of cash placed in the appropriate palms/pockets.
What an amazing age we all live in. For a fee approximate to what most working class folks make in one hour we can enjoy an entire month of unlimited streaming digital video with DVD's mailed to our homes as well for unlimited selection. An all you can watch smorgasbord for one hours pay every month, and yet, the modern consumer is displeased.
Everything is amazing & nobody is happy. (my favorite Icrontic Life piece) I think it is fair to say that technology has produced a generation of spoiled brats with an entitlement complex.
I remember going to my local Drug City video store with my Dad. After dodging the sleaze balls coming out of the adults only section, Dad would be able to reasonably afford to allow us to pick out one VHS and or one NES game every couple of weeks. Typically that would be about $9, and you have drive there to return it in three days or double that. At the rate of inflation we were paying then what we pay now for an unlimited selection, much of it immediately available via streaming, and the rest delivered directly to our homes and yet, the modern consumer cries foul!
All the high quality digital video you want, delivered directly to you, without late fee's for what most folks make in one hour. Icrontic, nobody is more pro consumer than me. Seriously people, I vote for Nader. If I can't make an anti corporate argument, there is not one to be had. Don't tell me it's about how they said it or went about it, that is a hollow arguement. I got both paper mail and email explaining the new structure and was given ample time to make any adjustments I saw fit as a consumer. Netflix did nothing but offer us all an amazing value. When it came time, consumers spat on Netflix for wanting to grow their business. Because if this, it will delay any chance we had of getting first day releases via streaming. Congratulations internet spoiled brats, you accomplished nothing but weakening a great product offering for all of us.
I could write a top-20 why this is a good idea. But I'm lazy.
Great move.
I understand Cliff's point: In general, we tend to bitch too much as a society.
To defend some of the bitching, however. In most cases; it's not about the dollar amount, it's not about the splitting of the company, and it's not even about the future plans to kill off DVDs by mail. It's about the change itself. We, as humans, like things the way they are. Change is off-putting, upsetting, and creates in us a need to re-strike balance. This is amplified when we disagree with the changes (see my article about the Star Wars BluRay), making it that much harder to adjust (or in some cases, we're completely unable/unwilling to adjust).
This will all shake out for the better for MOST people involved. Average home Internet speeds are climbing, cloud-centric models for our daily media consumption activities are becoming more viable and readily available, and the need for physical media will be drastically reduced (probably to the point of a backup-only strategy, which is where my personal usage is headed).
I just think this is a stupid move. A large part of Netflix's success was thanks to the fact that they made things dead easy. If you wanted to see a movie, but it wasn't available for streaming (as is the case with the vast majority of titles) then you could add it to your DVD queue right there. Now they're completely tearing everything apart so you have to go to two different sites just to manage your queue. They're killing functionality and, essentially, asking the user to pay more for it.
As for their "big swinging dick" to get more content, that's a joke. The cable companies have far more money than Netflix (even with this split) could ever hope to bring to the table. The cable companies will fight, tooth and nail, against being relegated to dumb pipe providers. The war between Netflix and Cable & Co. is going to be massive and is not going to end well for the consumer. Netflix would have been better off not making such an overt declaration of war as this one will be perceived to be. Especially since they have, at the same time, pissed off a large portion of their customer (as is evident by the flood of upset comments on the Netflix blog post).
The price change alone resulted in Netflix losing over 1 million customers. How many more are going to go now that they've ripped apart their core functionality and forced anyone who uses both services to manage to completely separate queues? I never thought I'd see the day where Netflix did something so profoundly annoying that I'd cancel my service, but that day may well be here after all.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2011/09/19/netflix-street-wary-on-brand-split-snail-mail-is-qwik/
So, if this guys numbers are right, Netflix is gambling with half their customer base by making it significantly harder for them to continue to use the service the way they have been.
And, regarding the actual blu-ray rental, the awesome Stu Maschwitz described the issue perfectly. Why bother when the parts that make Blu-ray great are stripped out?
Considering the streaming service didn't offer nearly enough to stay subscribed even if I did have the ability to stream (seriously here, the streaming selection is not very good at all) and we live under a 250gb cap from Comcast, we went the route of a DVD by mail every 2-3 days.
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/09/19/netflix-plenty-of-pitfalls-in-the-fine-print/
I don't think I get this part. Why is that an inscentive to let Netflix stream. I would think it would be the other way around: They're not worried about not letting netflix stream because they know that the customes can see it either way, where as now, they can't so for some customers, it's stream or nothing.
I would think that the new system would encourage the rights holders to allow streaming.
EDIT, for clarification (maybe?): Now that they're splitting things up, they can no longer go to the studio and say "hey, we're renting out this movie on DVD anyway, why don't you make some extra cash by selling us streaming rights?" Or at least, that argument won't hold as much water since Qwikster will not be able to advertise the fact that streaming is available for the titles.
Exactly why suffering under the capital costs of obtaining and mailing discs no longer makes sense.
On the streaming side, costs can go up arbitrarily any time the media companies want for any reason (or for no reason at all). Users can also stream content at a much higher rate which makes it harder to figure out the cost to pass on to the customer (in the case of per-stream fees). They're unilaterally disarming by splitting the two companies up. The DVD rental side was their trump card against the studios, as well as a way to subsidize the streaming side of their business to an extent. By spinning off, and likely selling or killing the DVD side, they're making themselves completely beholden to the content owners.
The grim reality of our future with web-delivered media. Play by their rules, or don't play. I'm glad Netflix is trying.
Netflix could find out what its going to cost tomorrow and ink long term deals with the studios, but the wild card is the consumers willingness to pay once they have had a next to free lunch for so long.
http://bradcolbow.com/archive/view/the_brads_-_how_netflix_is_getting_easier/
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/netflix
America needs more unemployed Americans, yes
That being said I have to admit that I will continue to subscribe regardless. The major gripe I have is that I will now have to go to two separate sites to manage my queues. One of the major selling points for me was just the shear god damned convenience and soon it will be half gone. I'm not afraid of change, I just like it to come in due time when it is finally time to change.
I think it will survive as long as Netflix continues its sparse selection at the current price and ISPs leverage stupid bandwidth caps. Until both of those things are changed I'll be sticking with Qwikster.