You are glad to see 8% of the content you pay for disappear with nothing announced to replace it?
There are new things that get introduced from time to time.
And no, it doesn't bother me at all that Starz content will be gone, because I never watched any of it. At that shit quality, it simply wasn't even an option for me. I would equate it to Android kicking malware apps off their app store.
I think some people are pretty unrealistic. No streaming service is going to have brand new movies on it as soon as they are released for $8 a month, as a subscription service. There are some streaming pay per view services around, but that's not the same thing at all.
Yes, this sucks more than it should. I don't like that the 2 are separating into two different websites, especially, since I rent things on disc that aren't available for streaming, and build my disc list mostly that way. Now it'll be search, this bit's not on disc, go over to qwickster, and then search again? Yeah, that's gonna be fun.
The only reason I don't just stop the disc subscription is that redbox doesn't have all of the discs I'm looking for, some are older, some are tv shows (which iirc, redbox doesn't get).
Netflix streaming blows. I'd say realistically that 80% of their selection is just complete low-rated garbage.
Netflix would kick ass if they had what was available on the DVD rental side available on the instant streaming side.
The ironic thing is piracy is the concern/reason for not having that content available on the streaming side, and yet ripping a DVD is easier than ripping a live stream.
My thoughts exactly. I would love to drop the DVD side, but my queue has a few hundred operas that are not streaming, and I doubt ever will be. Oh well. And my 2 yr old would pitch the mother of all fits if we couldn't stream Word World, Thomas, etc anymore. I guess it's more years of two bills as far as I can see. \
Mr. Hastings seems to be on his own agenda. Doesn't care what the customers think or want. He was quite clear with that when he did the price hikes. Now he writes a stupid letter of what he calls an apology. But in reality he is sticking to his own agenda and making what customers didn't want even worse by splitting its services into two different names and making customers sign up some where else to get there DVD's and Blu-rays. Then on top of that we can't even cross reference what are physical media cue is versus our streaming media? Stupidity at its highest! This will make even more customers even more angry then they were before and probably cause hemorrhaging of his Netflix subscribers. One million lost was just a little cut compared to what this will cause.
This is So Stupid! Let's take an incredibly well known name, with incredible customer good will - and destroy it all in a matter of months! As someone said an a Washington Post article today, the only thing left of Netflix 2 years from now will be a Harvard Business School case study in what not to do when you have a successful company!
Maybe someone has kidnapped his family and threatened to kill them if he doesn't destroy the company? So he's overdoing it and hoping we'll all be thinking 'nobody could be that stupid, his family must need help and we have save them!'?
So who here will be first to help him? Not one of us! I'm so embarrassed to be part of humanity at times.
Mr. Hasting you wanted to srew me and relized you were srewing yourself, how did it fell. Like everything else I have moved on as you forced me to learn more regarding my options. thank you
I got the "apology" e-mail from Reed and I could not believe they picked "Qwickster" for their split company name... It's absolutely horrible as a name because it's so easy to mistype that it damages their credibility. If they actually are able to negotiate 90% of what the movie studios and production companies offer today in the form of DVDs, I'll drop the mail service in favor of online only. I certainly don't intend on keeping both. If their online library continues to blow, I'll cancel both. Movies are not a necessity anyway.
I don't get it. Netflix announced a 60% price increase and lost 5% of their customers. What the heck is he apologizing for? And then he takes his well established brand name and smashes it on the floor and rolls around in the shards while shouting ad hominem attacks at Apple and iTunes? What's the point? All in response to consumers who want from Netflix the same thing they want from the government: better selection of streaming movies including just released titles at no additional cost. If he had just stuck to his plan, 6 months from now everyone would be writing about how Netflix had weathered a storm and successfully raised their prices, allowing for better streaming content, while holding on to their membership and increasing profits. They'd be writing about that and how Michele Bachman was quitting the presidential race in the wake of a rentboy.com scandal involving her husband.
For DVD customers, this might be a bad thing, but for streaming only customers, I see it as a good thing. No longer will useless DVD results show up when I'm searching for something. Netflix is expanding globally, and streaming will be a big part of that.
Netflix clearly sees the Streaming and DVD through mail business as being two different things, and the DVD business has got to be much more costly to operate than streaming, with physical media, distribution centers to operate and mail delivery, all of which adds to the costs. People who want physical media should pay more.
Netflix is most likely not a bunch of socialists and the streaming people shouldn't have to subsidize the mail rental people. I can totally see why they would want to separate the two businesses from each other.
Mr. Hastings seems to be on his own agenda. Doesn't care what the customers think or want. He was quite clear with that when he did the price hikes. Now he writes a stupid letter of what he calls an apology. But in reality he is sticking to his own agenda and making what customers didn't want even worse by splitting its services into two different names and making customers sign up some where else to get there DVD's and Blu-rays. Then on top of that we can't even cross reference what are physical media cue is versus our streaming media? Stupidity at its highest! This will make even more customers even more angry then they were before and probably cause hemorrhaging of his Netflix subscribers. One million lost was just a little cut compared to what this will cause.
Mr. Hastings should be removed as CEO.
I agree with the suggestion to fire Reed Hastings. He's caused enormous damage to their reputation with these recent boneheaded moves.
Mr. Hastings seems to be on his own agenda. Doesn't care what the customers think or want. He was quite clear with that when he did the price hikes. Now he writes a stupid letter of what he calls an apology. But in reality he is sticking to his own agenda and making what customers didn't want even worse by splitting its services into two different names and making customers sign up some where else to get there DVD's and Blu-rays. Then on top of that we can't even cross reference what are physical media cue is versus our streaming media? Stupidity at its highest! This will make even more customers even more angry then they were before and probably cause hemorrhaging of his Netflix subscribers. One million lost was just a little cut compared to what this will cause.
Mr. Hastings should be removed as CEO.
Yea, Mr. Hastings should be removed. He should be replaced by somebody that isn't concerned with running a business and should just give everything away to make the customers happy. Capitalism sucks, profit is evil. Right?
But yes, I do agree that he could have been a bit more tactful with his changes. What bugs me most is everybody screaming about how Netflix sucks. Everything somehow is either great or it sucks. Nothing in between. How about - Netflix is a reasonable return for your $8 a month.
Netflix seems to be floundering badly and I think they will fail if the keep going down this path. They had me as a loyal customer until they split streaming and DVD's. That was the end of that for me. This latest decision to actually split the company makes me happy that I made the decision and that it was the right one.
Will be interesting to see what happens to Netflix, what the reaction is from consumers, and how fast the stock drops when the new Blockbuster/DISH system is unveiled this Friday.
For DVD customers, this might be a bad thing, but for streaming only customers, I see it as a good thing. No longer will useless DVD results show up when I'm searching for something. Netflix is expanding globally, and streaming will be a big part of that.
Netflix clearly sees the Streaming and DVD through mail business as being two different things, and the DVD business has got to be much more costly to operate than streaming, with physical media, distribution centers to operate and mail delivery, all of which adds to the costs. People who want physical media should pay more.
Netflix is clearly not a bunch of socialists and the streaming people shouldn't have to subsidize the mail rental people. I can totally see why they would want to separate the two businesses from each other.
I think the core issue is that the movie studios control the content, therefore they control Netflix. They likely demanded separate revenue streams from DVDs vs. streaming AND I'm betting that Netflix will soon offer on-demand movie options soon that will compete with cable's for-pay offerings (probably something like $9.99 each for movies that have been in the theaters for a month or two).
Yea, Mr. Hastings should be removed. He should be replaced by somebody that isn't concerned with running a business and should just give everything away to make the customers happy. Capitalism sucks, profit is evil. Right?
But yes, I do agree that he could have been a bit more tactful with his changes. What bugs me most is everybody screaming about how Netflix sucks. Everything somehow is either great or it sucks. Nothing in between. How about - Netflix is a reasonable return for your $8 a month.
I haven't heard many people that have seen the lesser "upside" of this. If you had the streaming with DVD before it was what, $9.99? I have no idea what I paid. I never had time to actually watch the DVD's with a 6 month old at home. So when this came out it was perfect. I dropped the DVD part and my cost dropped $2 a month. Not a big savings, but I wasn't able to devote 2 hours to sit down and watch a movie anyhow. Now I can use streaming to watch shows and the occasional movie that actually comes available AND I want to watch.
Just don't take Start Trek NextGen away until I have finished watching all seasons. 45 minutes is perfect to watch an episode during a kids nap.
I think the core issue is that the movie studios control the content, therefore they control Netflix. They likely demanded separate revenue streams from DVDs vs. streaming AND I'm betting that Netflix will soon offer on-demand movie options soon that will compete with cable's for-pay offerings (probably something like $9.99 each for movies that have been in the theaters for a month or two).
I would do that in a HEARTBEAT. I know a lot of parents that don't have time to go see movies in the theaters, but want to see a movie before it has been out for 9 months. I refuse to go to the sites that show ripped off versions of the movies, because it is just a matter of time before all those people get billed/busted. So, I have no options. If only they could pipe the movies into my house where I can pause them, and do so after only a month old? SIGN ME UP
Side note, Cinemark and the theaters will not allow that though.
Yea, Mr. Hastings should be removed. He should be replaced by somebody that isn't concerned with running a business and should just give everything away to make the customers happy. Capitalism sucks, profit is evil. Right?
But yes, I do agree that he could have been a bit more tactful with his changes. What bugs me most is everybody screaming about how Netflix sucks. Everything somehow is either great or it sucks. Nothing in between. How about - Netflix is a reasonable return for your $8 a month.
I think there might be other rationales for firing him than striking a blow against capitalism. He screwed up with the way in which he announced the pricing changes in July and now he is making a move that might actually do serious financial damage. He would appear to be ill-equipped to handle the company he founded as it adapts to new technologies and new types of deals.
There were a lot of ways that he could have sold the plan changes last July that would have created no backlash at all. Instead, he created a sh*t storm and he doesn't seem to know how to operate the umbrella.
I think the core issue is that the movie studios control the content, therefore they control Netflix. They likely demanded separate revenue streams from DVDs vs. streaming AND I'm betting that Netflix will soon offer on-demand movie options soon that will compete with cable's for-pay offerings (probably something like $9.99 each for movies that have been in the theaters for a month or two).
Yep. They likely wanted more money and it cascaded into this.
Personally I'm not totally bugged by this move so long as it doesn't make me rebuild my queue. I also think that they could do with qwikboxing things up, at least for the big titles and putting up boxes to save on postage. They could perhaps even make an app where you could search for a box with a certain title or see if the titles in your queue were available at a box and pick one to rent. Or just pick to get something by mail. If your next title isn't in a box you would have to get it by mail and return it by mail. It could work.
Course by the same token I would like to see the studios not treat iTunes etc as bastard children. And work with Apple etc to have one format for extras etc and not two to get visually tracks, commentaries, subtitles etc into things. Drop the price on the plain vanilla version that comes out the night before and then perhaps after the season release these enhanced versions an let us 'Plus' upgrade to them. Give us HD on everything, even if just their low-grade version of HD. And have the nets count downloads as viewers to offset the crappy outdated ratings system
Imagine that.... content providers jack up the wholesale price, and the retailer (Netflix) is forced to increase the selling price to consumers! Oh lordy, what has this warld come toooo.!
But we will blame Netflix, because we don't know any better and because they have the logo, the catchy name, etc.
We will scream foul when the CEO says hes splitting the company into two distinct entities, not because we ourselves have any knowledge of business (ie the fact that all other Countries besides the US have streaming only and will benefit from said separation).
We, the ignorant manifesties, feverishly looking for the next corporation to attack with our pitch forks and flaming torches.
I say Netflix is just the tip of the iceberg. Lets stick it to the real villains! Like jewelers who tell me I have to pay more for engagement rings because the price of gold, platinum and diamonds has increased! How about the evil grocery stores who increase the price of my most favourtist tasty cheeses when the price of dairy increases!
Comments
You are glad to see 8% of the content you pay for disappear with nothing announced to replace it?
There are new things that get introduced from time to time.
And no, it doesn't bother me at all that Starz content will be gone, because I never watched any of it. At that shit quality, it simply wasn't even an option for me. I would equate it to Android kicking malware apps off their app store.
I think some people are pretty unrealistic. No streaming service is going to have brand new movies on it as soon as they are released for $8 a month, as a subscription service. There are some streaming pay per view services around, but that's not the same thing at all.
The only reason I don't just stop the disc subscription is that redbox doesn't have all of the discs I'm looking for, some are older, some are tv shows (which iirc, redbox doesn't get).
Netflix streaming blows. I'd say realistically that 80% of their selection is just complete low-rated garbage.
Netflix would kick ass if they had what was available on the DVD rental side available on the instant streaming side.
The ironic thing is piracy is the concern/reason for not having that content available on the streaming side, and yet ripping a DVD is easier than ripping a live stream.
My thoughts exactly. I would love to drop the DVD side, but my queue has a few hundred operas that are not streaming, and I doubt ever will be. Oh well. And my 2 yr old would pitch the mother of all fits if we couldn't stream Word World, Thomas, etc anymore. I guess it's more years of two bills as far as I can see.
Mr. Hastings should be removed as CEO.
This is So Stupid! Let's take an incredibly well known name, with incredible customer good will - and destroy it all in a matter of months! As someone said an a Washington Post article today, the only thing left of Netflix 2 years from now will be a Harvard Business School case study in what not to do when you have a successful company!
Maybe someone has kidnapped his family and threatened to kill them if he doesn't destroy the company? So he's overdoing it and hoping we'll all be thinking 'nobody could be that stupid, his family must need help and we have save them!'?
So who here will be first to help him? Not one of us! I'm so embarrassed to be part of humanity at times.
Netflix clearly sees the Streaming and DVD through mail business as being two different things, and the DVD business has got to be much more costly to operate than streaming, with physical media, distribution centers to operate and mail delivery, all of which adds to the costs. People who want physical media should pay more.
Netflix is most likely not a bunch of socialists and the streaming people shouldn't have to subsidize the mail rental people. I can totally see why they would want to separate the two businesses from each other.
Mr. Hastings seems to be on his own agenda. Doesn't care what the customers think or want. He was quite clear with that when he did the price hikes. Now he writes a stupid letter of what he calls an apology. But in reality he is sticking to his own agenda and making what customers didn't want even worse by splitting its services into two different names and making customers sign up some where else to get there DVD's and Blu-rays. Then on top of that we can't even cross reference what are physical media cue is versus our streaming media? Stupidity at its highest! This will make even more customers even more angry then they were before and probably cause hemorrhaging of his Netflix subscribers. One million lost was just a little cut compared to what this will cause.
Mr. Hastings should be removed as CEO.
I agree with the suggestion to fire Reed Hastings. He's caused enormous damage to their reputation with these recent boneheaded moves.
Mr. Hastings seems to be on his own agenda. Doesn't care what the customers think or want. He was quite clear with that when he did the price hikes. Now he writes a stupid letter of what he calls an apology. But in reality he is sticking to his own agenda and making what customers didn't want even worse by splitting its services into two different names and making customers sign up some where else to get there DVD's and Blu-rays. Then on top of that we can't even cross reference what are physical media cue is versus our streaming media? Stupidity at its highest! This will make even more customers even more angry then they were before and probably cause hemorrhaging of his Netflix subscribers. One million lost was just a little cut compared to what this will cause.
Mr. Hastings should be removed as CEO.
Yea, Mr. Hastings should be removed. He should be replaced by somebody that isn't concerned with running a business and should just give everything away to make the customers happy. Capitalism sucks, profit is evil. Right?
But yes, I do agree that he could have been a bit more tactful with his changes. What bugs me most is everybody screaming about how Netflix sucks. Everything somehow is either great or it sucks. Nothing in between. How about - Netflix is a reasonable return for your $8 a month.
For DVD customers, this might be a bad thing, but for streaming only customers, I see it as a good thing. No longer will useless DVD results show up when I'm searching for something. Netflix is expanding globally, and streaming will be a big part of that.
Netflix clearly sees the Streaming and DVD through mail business as being two different things, and the DVD business has got to be much more costly to operate than streaming, with physical media, distribution centers to operate and mail delivery, all of which adds to the costs. People who want physical media should pay more.
Netflix is clearly not a bunch of socialists and the streaming people shouldn't have to subsidize the mail rental people. I can totally see why they would want to separate the two businesses from each other.
I think the core issue is that the movie studios control the content, therefore they control Netflix. They likely demanded separate revenue streams from DVDs vs. streaming AND I'm betting that Netflix will soon offer on-demand movie options soon that will compete with cable's for-pay offerings (probably something like $9.99 each for movies that have been in the theaters for a month or two).
Yea, Mr. Hastings should be removed. He should be replaced by somebody that isn't concerned with running a business and should just give everything away to make the customers happy. Capitalism sucks, profit is evil. Right?
But yes, I do agree that he could have been a bit more tactful with his changes. What bugs me most is everybody screaming about how Netflix sucks. Everything somehow is either great or it sucks. Nothing in between. How about - Netflix is a reasonable return for your $8 a month.
I haven't heard many people that have seen the lesser "upside" of this. If you had the streaming with DVD before it was what, $9.99? I have no idea what I paid. I never had time to actually watch the DVD's with a 6 month old at home. So when this came out it was perfect. I dropped the DVD part and my cost dropped $2 a month. Not a big savings, but I wasn't able to devote 2 hours to sit down and watch a movie anyhow. Now I can use streaming to watch shows and the occasional movie that actually comes available AND I want to watch.
Just don't take Start Trek NextGen away until I have finished watching all seasons. 45 minutes is perfect to watch an episode during a kids nap.
I think the core issue is that the movie studios control the content, therefore they control Netflix. They likely demanded separate revenue streams from DVDs vs. streaming AND I'm betting that Netflix will soon offer on-demand movie options soon that will compete with cable's for-pay offerings (probably something like $9.99 each for movies that have been in the theaters for a month or two).
I would do that in a HEARTBEAT. I know a lot of parents that don't have time to go see movies in the theaters, but want to see a movie before it has been out for 9 months. I refuse to go to the sites that show ripped off versions of the movies, because it is just a matter of time before all those people get billed/busted. So, I have no options. If only they could pipe the movies into my house where I can pause them, and do so after only a month old? SIGN ME UP
Side note, Cinemark and the theaters will not allow that though.
Yea, Mr. Hastings should be removed. He should be replaced by somebody that isn't concerned with running a business and should just give everything away to make the customers happy. Capitalism sucks, profit is evil. Right?
But yes, I do agree that he could have been a bit more tactful with his changes. What bugs me most is everybody screaming about how Netflix sucks. Everything somehow is either great or it sucks. Nothing in between. How about - Netflix is a reasonable return for your $8 a month.
I think there might be other rationales for firing him than striking a blow against capitalism. He screwed up with the way in which he announced the pricing changes in July and now he is making a move that might actually do serious financial damage. He would appear to be ill-equipped to handle the company he founded as it adapts to new technologies and new types of deals.
There were a lot of ways that he could have sold the plan changes last July that would have created no backlash at all. Instead, he created a sh*t storm and he doesn't seem to know how to operate the umbrella.
I think the core issue is that the movie studios control the content, therefore they control Netflix. They likely demanded separate revenue streams from DVDs vs. streaming AND I'm betting that Netflix will soon offer on-demand movie options soon that will compete with cable's for-pay offerings (probably something like $9.99 each for movies that have been in the theaters for a month or two).
Yep. They likely wanted more money and it cascaded into this.
Personally I'm not totally bugged by this move so long as it doesn't make me rebuild my queue. I also think that they could do with qwikboxing things up, at least for the big titles and putting up boxes to save on postage. They could perhaps even make an app where you could search for a box with a certain title or see if the titles in your queue were available at a box and pick one to rent. Or just pick to get something by mail. If your next title isn't in a box you would have to get it by mail and return it by mail. It could work.
Course by the same token I would like to see the studios not treat iTunes etc as bastard children. And work with Apple etc to have one format for extras etc and not two to get visually tracks, commentaries, subtitles etc into things. Drop the price on the plain vanilla version that comes out the night before and then perhaps after the season release these enhanced versions an let us 'Plus' upgrade to them. Give us HD on everything, even if just their low-grade version of HD. And have the nets count downloads as viewers to offset the crappy outdated ratings system
But we will blame Netflix, because we don't know any better and because they have the logo, the catchy name, etc.
We will scream foul when the CEO says hes splitting the company into two distinct entities, not because we ourselves have any knowledge of business (ie the fact that all other Countries besides the US have streaming only and will benefit from said separation).
We, the ignorant manifesties, feverishly looking for the next corporation to attack with our pitch forks and flaming torches.
I say Netflix is just the tip of the iceberg. Lets stick it to the real villains! Like jewelers who tell me I have to pay more for engagement rings because the price of gold, platinum and diamonds has increased! How about the evil grocery stores who increase the price of my most favourtist tasty cheeses when the price of dairy increases!
Let them allllllll buuuurrrrn!