Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses • Hacker News Board

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#101

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Sep 19, 2011, 11:28 AM UTC

jonnathanson wrote: post #99

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 robustnes…

[deleted]

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#102

Post by ja27 » Mon, Sep 19, 2011, 11:31 AM UTC

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…

Yes, it's really frustrating that Netflix only allows streaming from the primary account and none of the sub accounts. Anything we stream shows up on the recently watched list for our kids to see.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#103

Post by narcissus » Mon, Sep 19, 2011, 11:33 AM UTC

pkulak wrote: post #53

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…

Yup. My kid is only two, but even I have noticed that Netflix has 6 full seasons of Spongebob and nearly 100 full episodes of Seasame Street. It's pretty important to me that my child not be bombarded by advertisements before he gains any critical thinking skills, so I'll be a Netflix customer for a long time yet, I'm sure. I'm just hoping they use this extra cash to get some better content (or create it themselves)…

Wow. I have a 4 year old and a 5 year old, both love getting to pick stuff off Netflix and not once did I think about the fact that there are no ads... that's such an awesome point in Netflix's favour and I can't believe I never realised it before.

Plus, for me at least, it's good in that it forces them to compromise and work it out among themselves. They can watch whatever they want on it (obviously, within their genre) but they have to work it out between the two of them what they are going to watch. With the TV, it's closer to "on or off".

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#104

Post by po » Mon, Sep 19, 2011, 11:35 AM UTC

rufo wrote: post #98

timr wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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 co…

They first obtained that advantage through their infrastructure investment in DVDs though, not through steaming. Any Netflix competitor now has a much smaller hurdle to overcome to be as successful as they've been. From the customer's viewpoint they went from having a relationship with a single company that had two offerings to a relationship with a company with a single offering that is somewhat lacking.

If I were the new CEO of Quixster or Kwikstr or whatever the hell it is, I would immediately start looking around at who I can partner with to get streaming content. Actually, isn't Quixtar the name of a MLM scheme?

This move makes no sense. Seems like Wall St. pandering garbage.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#105

Post by nhangen » Mon, Sep 19, 2011, 11:42 AM UTC

As a once happy customer turned unhappy customer for a variety of reasons, I believe this signals the beginning of the end for Netflix.

By the way, thanks for destroying Blockbuster on the way down. I had more options 2 years ago than I do now.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#106

Post by MatthewPhillips » Mon, Sep 19, 2011, 11:42 AM UTC

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,…

You can do exactly that without rebranding the product. They're called divisions. Give each one a CEO, but to the customer they should all be Netflix.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#107

Post by Triumvark » Mon, Sep 19, 2011, 11:51 AM UTC

va_coder wrote: post #96

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.

> DVDs are on their way out...

Streaming has a unique disadvantage: you have to haggle with each individual content owner.

Yes, it's cheaper to move bits than stuff. Much. But licensing is a pricey hassle. It's a huge part of the comparison, and as content owners get savvy, it will only get more expensive over time.

This should be a signal of how much more right we got the law with physical media. We all want DVDs to be dead, sure. But DVDs would die tomorrow if we just set up an obligatory licensing scheme for this sort of content. If you distribute a movie, Netflix should be allowed to stream it, and pay you a fair statutory fee.

(This isn't some a radical new idea or some Communist scheme, it's basically how radio stations work.)

Until the law is fixed, DVDs will stick around, lingering on.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#108

Post by MatthewPhillips » Mon, Sep 19, 2011, 11:58 AM UTC

Lukeas14 wrote: post #8

The elephant in the streaming office is the lack of blockbuster titles, many of which are only available through their DVD by mail business. If they're betting everything on streaming i'm guessing (hoping) that they've also figured out a solution to this problem. Otherwise, they've lost the big benefit of credibility that DVD by mail brought to their service.

The answer to getting new releases is obvious and I'm surprised they haven't done it already: pay-per-view. 3.99 for new releases, back catalog is free. What Amazon does, except they would have the advantage of the massive customer base. They could probably work out some deals with the studios where if a movie makes X amount on PPV it gets to move to the back catalog for a minimum of 6 months. Having that customer base would give them the leverage to make those types of deals.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#109

Post by metageek » Mon, Sep 19, 2011, 12:00 PM UTC

arithmetic wrote: post #83

foobarbazoo wrote: post #62

Qwikster is a terrible name, and this is a terrible move. Hastings is now in competition with that guy running HP to see who can destroy their company first. Maybe Ballmer will get in the game and spin off Windows/Office from Microsoft, and rebrand them "Facetown", while proclaiming Bing to be the future of the company. Unbelievable. Update: I predict Qwikster is dead and buried within 5 years, and someone else pushe…

Netflix employee here. I've been reading all the comments here and at Reed's blog to understand what everyone has to say about the split. Internally, we've known about the split for some time now. Why do you think this is a terrible move? Your comment has a lot of unflattering comparisons, but doesn't explain why the move is stupid. Also, you're probably right that DVD as a service will not last forever, and Reed und…

> Why do you think this is a terrible move?

Because the two services work well together. There are lots of movies and shows that you can't stream, but you can get on disc. Your data about what discs I rent improves your recommendations on the streaming side; and having one UI for both services makes me more likely to get them both from you. If Qwikster fully splits from Netflix, it'll have to compete on its own with other disc-only solutions.

Maybe you're going to radically improve your streaming library Real Soon Now; but, if so, the time to split is after that improvement, when streaming can better stand on its own.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#110

Post by Triumvark » Mon, Sep 19, 2011, 12:05 PM UTC

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,…

> 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.

Depth of catalog is the most important feature for me. I especially like watching HBO shows without paying tons of money for cable. I also sometimes like watching really obscure films. Films which were released on DVD at one time, but where it may be hard to track down anyone to authorize licensing for streaming.

Which should I pick?

Before Netflix, I satisfied my tastes at the independent video stores around town. Netflix killed those. Naturally, I'm sensitive to any changes that might undermine the DVD service.

The best solution, as I've mentioned before, is to just allow obligatory licensing. Let Netflix convert its entire DVD catalog to streaming. Make it pay a fair statutory fee whenever it streams anything. If a content owner cannot be found, allow the fee to be collected by a designated rightsholder organization (something like ASCAP) until claimed by a verified owner of the content.