BOOOO - Netflix altering their service and jacking up prices

[bodhi_tree777]

http://blog.netflix.com/2011/0....htmlNetflix is separating their streaming service and their DVD mailing service into two separate options, lowering the price of each slightly and charging a double premium if you still want both So, instead of $9.99 a month for both services, they are now $7.99 each for unlimited streaming and $7.99 for unlimited 1-at-a-time DVD mailing (so $16 a month if you want to continue with business as usual). The catch is that they have NOT expanded their streaming and it can be very limited when it comes to new releases. The 30-day waiting period for new releases to be mailed to you is still there as well I guess. I can understand the business needs, desire to make more money etc.. but I can't stand the corporate-speak in this press release (where it's not about squeezing long-term loyal customers for more money, it's about "change"). I'll be dropping the mail service altogether, and am feeling fairly taken for granted after 5+ years of steady subscription.

[kostby]

We don't go to many movies in the theatre (4 or fewer a year), simply because most of them don't interest either of us (55+ and retired). So when we tried the 30-day free trial of streaming Netflix a few months ago, and we had literally watched EVERY recent movie either of us wanted to see within the first two weeks, and could not justify even $7.99 a month to see at most one movie a month. We just go see them first-run in the theatre, and eat before going to avoid the $15.00 soda-and-popcorn-premium. Because of our generation, many of the older movies we might actually want to see are available from Netflix only on DVD, so $7.99 seems reasonable for a stand-alone rental service. But our local video store also has most of the same movies for a buck, and is located so close that the cost of driving there isn't even a consideration.Which is all a very long-winded way of saying "we're not the Netflix target demographic"!

[tpollauf]

Thanks to the internet and forums such as this I don't watch ANY movies anymore This won't affect me at all but I don't like what I see them doing

[millster]

You have Sony Pictures, Disney Studios and Starz to thank for this. The ridiculous contracts they have with each other and the subsequent contract Netflix was bound to with those studios has caused this increase. It's actually the streaming service and the "viewing caps" established by the studios that brought this on. That said, I only subscribe to the streaming service anyway, so it's business as usual for me.

[A Psycho Martyr]

yeah, my wife told me about this today...they shoulda just left ppl that were already subscribed ALONE and charged new ppl

[djkeev]

Eh, like everything else in life that happens, we'll all (removed) and moan about the changes and the price for a little while, then we'll ante up the cash, pay it and it will all soon be forgotten!Remember the first time you paid a buck for a gallon of gas??? Yep, we moved on and are happy we aren't paying $4 right now!Times change people, nothing you can do about it.That being said, we never use CD's anymore with streaming so we'll just keep the streaming portion.Dave

[KNINE]

I think I'm going to cancel the DVD delivery, and when my xbox gold expires, I'm going to cancel streaming.

[dayday]

Cancelled mine yesterday.

[ou.grizzly]

Went to sign up for the free month and it wanted a credit card, no thanks... Have HBO/Starz already

[GMJAP]

JERKS! THIS SUCKS!!AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!OK, I'm done. (And considering cancelling)

[Beer Belly]

We never had the DVD rentals here in Canada. We've always paid $7.99 for online viewing only.

[A Psycho Martyr]

Well Brittni tild me that it wasn't supposed to take effect until September

[Baltovibe]

From a business standpoint, raise prices 60%, and lose 40% of your customers, and still make near the same money as before. And with less customers, there is less infrastructure to support.You can't really blame Netflix for trying! It's all about performance for the shareholders.

[Beer Belly]

Here's another article regarding the Netflix change in the US if anyone is interested.http://sync.sympatico.ca/news/...fa75c

[A Psycho Martyr]

interesting read

[Baltovibe]

Another article:http://finance.yahoo.com/news/...l?x=0This explains that the price rise is not due to Hollywood cost increases. Rather, it seems the purpose is to raise profits. I noticed this part:Quote »Netflix knew that there would be a nasty backlash, and has already taken the subscriber defection into account in its financial forecasts. It still figures it will come out ahead.

[Blueridge9]

I'm so glad to see you discussing this cause I was surprised when I got the email about this 60% price hike for no additional services. Thanks for the links to the articles with more information about why they are doing it. It was such a great deal and made me happy while it lasted. Netflix has driven our local Hollywood Video and Blockbuster out of business and now they will greedily tighten their squeeze on our wallets. I am bummed and hope this is not just the beginning of price hikes! I think I will keep Netflix streaming and drop the DVD fee and instead get DVDs from my local Redbox which is less expensive for $1 down the street.

[ColonelPanic]

They sure had a backlash against this on their facebook page the other day, it was pretty awesome.We're dropping the DVD's. I'm not terribly fond of getting my movies from a mailbox or some machine with no soul (after having to wait for a half hour while the moron in front of you browses through every available title on the Redbox machine...) I prefer dealing with the real humans that work at the one remaining video store in town that hasn't been run out of business. I hope they use some of this newfound cash flow to fix the streaming, they've had to reimburse us a number of times since we've been subscribing to the service due to service interruptions. Wishful thinking. Also ticks me off that they refuse to support streaming under Linux, while my Roku box I stream with runs -- get this -- Linux. But that's neither here nor there.

[bodhi_tree777]

Am I the only one who uses a Roku box that absolutely hates the menu interface? I can't be.. perhaps Netflix will use some of this newfound cash flow to step up a few things.

[ColonelPanic]

I don't care for their Netflix interface, it's too cluttered. The old one was cleaner and simpler (but required you to queue up titles via a PC.)And I watch a lot of series in both Hulu+ and Netflix on the thing... It's nice to just sit on my (removed) and the next episode automatically plays on Hulu+, but it involves effort for me to actually select the next episode in Netflix

[ColonelPanic]

And LOL, i see this in my facebook feed this morning...Quote »For those of you having difficulty streaming tonight, our apologies - we're aware of the issue and working to fix it as quickly as possible.FAIL. See, they need more money!