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Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

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Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#91

Post by Stratoscope »

superkinz wrote: post #50

People always go up in arms about change of price like this. For a long time, the prices at Netflix mostly stayed the same because they started with DVDs, and later added streaming. The streaming catalog wasn't built out enough for them to monetize it with confidence. So what did they do? They gave us a break and let us have free streaming. Now that it's a significant catalog, they want us to pay for the service... w…

It's not the change of price that has everyone upset tonight. That already happened.

What has people upset tonight is what customers will lose in this change: the convenience of a single website to find interesting movies and TV shows and arrange to view them by whichever delivery means is available.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#92

Post by hdctambien »

superkinz wrote: post #50

People always go up in arms about change of price like this. For a long time, the prices at Netflix mostly stayed the same because they started with DVDs, and later added streaming. The streaming catalog wasn't built out enough for them to monetize it with confidence. So what did they do? They gave us a break and let us have free streaming. Now that it's a significant catalog, they want us to pay for the service... w…

I still have to pay $50 to comcast so I can connect to the internet and stream my netflix.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#93

Post by foobarbazoo »

JeffDClark wrote: post #35
crgt wrote: post #30

I'll throw it out as a side note, because in all the discussions I've read on Netflix of late no one seems to mention it: Netflix has FANTASTIC kids content available for streaming. My kids would revolt if we cancelled our service. That alone guarantees my business until there is a truly compelling replacement. I cannot believe we're the only family like this. And while this is probably not a large enough market to s…

Totally agree. It was a no brainer to cancel the DVD side of our subscription, but the streaming, no way.

Amazon Prime streaming is more than enough for children, and most families already have it.

And the kids don't care at all who they get the shows from.

I expect Amazon to continue to aggressively compete in this area, not to mention Apple and someday, Google. Netflix is giving away their core advantage -- a huge content library and DVD/Blu-ray backup for anything not-yet streamed. No one else has that. Now they're just like everyone else.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#94

Post by tomjen3 »

superkinz wrote: post #50

People always go up in arms about change of price like this. For a long time, the prices at Netflix mostly stayed the same because they started with DVDs, and later added streaming. The streaming catalog wasn't built out enough for them to monetize it with confidence. So what did they do? They gave us a break and let us have free streaming. Now that it's a significant catalog, they want us to pay for the service... w…

It would be if you could get everything they have on dvd streamed as well.

Until that happens, neither of your two offerings are worth considering.

Those who are more deviously than me would say that rapidshare.com is the best alternative right now.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#95

Post by majikrooster »

arithmetic wrote: post #87
alphakappa wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While there may be some business sense behind it, as a customer, I don't see any benefit for me. It may make things easier for Netflix, but how does it make anything better for me as a customer? This is the second time Netflix has made an announcement about changes that were seemingly for some good reason, but left customers bewildered.

If you had to pick between DVD and streaming service, and make one of them phenomenally better than what it is now, which one would you pick? DVD, because everyone knows and loves it? Or streaming, because it's growing rapidly? You get to pick one. With the split, Netflix gets to focus entirely on streaming - make it better for the customer. Which means, more (and better) content, faster and better streaming service,…

He must of done a much better job getting the employees to drink the kool aid then the customers

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#96

Post by va_coder »

Jun8 wrote: post #59

It seems I'm in the minority who thinks this is an over the top reaction to Wall Street pressure. It was clear for a number of years now that Netflix saw streaming as the future. But cutting off the DVD business like that... it's extreme. A lot of the movies are not available for streaming. Yes, their streaming portfolio is probably still the best (and has excellent children's content, my son watches it every night)…

DVDs are on their way out and streaming is now in and he's putting all his efforts into the streaming business.

What if Microsoft did something similar? What if the CEO in 1998 put all his efforts and attention into the Web? Results for Microsoft might have been much better.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#97

Post by kahirsch »

foobarbazoo wrote: post #93
JeffDClark wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree. It was a no brainer to cancel the DVD side of our subscription, but the streaming, no way.

Amazon Prime streaming is more than enough for children, and most families already have it. And the kids don't care at all who they get the shows from. I expect Amazon to continue to aggressively compete in this area, not to mention Apple and someday, Google. Netflix is giving away their core advantage -- a huge content library and DVD/Blu-ray backup for anything not-yet streamed. No one else has that. Now they're ju…

> Amazon Prime streaming is more than enough for children, and most families already have it.

The estimates I saw from February were 4-5 million Amazon Prime customers. That's much smaller than Netflix, much less "most families".

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#98

Post by rufo »

timr wrote: post #25
bryanh wrote: post #7

In my opinion, this is definitely the obvious and correct move. It isn't a surprise that Netflix wanted to head towards a stream only business model, but this makes it crystal clear that Netflix is (at the moment) a premium streaming video company. I mean look at them, thats all they do now! The still face some big hurdles with all their streaming content deals, and the outcome will likely be what makes or breaks the…

"this makes it crystal clear that Netflix is a premium streaming video company. I mean look at them, thats all they do now!" Yeah, well...now they're providing a commodity service. Renting DVDs through the mail has/had a huge infrastructure advantage for the established player. Streaming video over the internet? There are dozens of sites that do it well. The technical advantage is far less sustainable, because it isn…

Netflix has one thing that most streaming video sites don't, and that's massive market penetration. In my living room, I have 5 devices capable of Netflix streaming, as well as every mobile device I own.

Amazon is probably second with their offering, and even then I don't own any devices that can stream Prime Instant Video (my TiVo can download from Amazon, but isn't compatible with Prime's streaming). Any Netflix competitor has a huge hurdle to overcome to be as successful as they've been.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#99

Post by jonnathanson »

Jun8 wrote: post #59

It seems I'm in the minority who thinks this is an over the top reaction to Wall Street pressure. It was clear for a number of years now that Netflix saw streaming as the future. But cutting off the DVD business like that... it's extreme. A lot of the movies are not available for streaming. Yes, their streaming portfolio is probably still the best (and has excellent children's content, my son watches it every night)…

"...A lot of the movies are not available for streaming."

Quite a lot, actually, including the majority of new releases. And this will only become more evident in the eyes of streaming subscribers when they no longer see most of the new titles listed in searches. (Even the presence of those "Only available on DVD" titles in streaming-service SERPs lent a sort of subconscious, psychological indication of the robustness of Netflix's library).

Hard to see what Netflix stands to gain here. Streaming may be the future of media consumption, but there are still a few big hurdles to leap. Placing all the eggs in the streaming basket now feels a tiny bit premature. It's entirely possible now that streaming will win the day, but it'll be a competitor (or two) waving the victory flag.

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