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Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

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Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#161

Post by ShawnJG »

frossie wrote: post #80
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)…

The attack surface for other companies has just doubled If anything, that is an underestimate. I really can't understand what they are thinking. Since I am interested in both DVD and streaming, up to now I was completely locked into Netflix because of the integrated system - my "Instant" queue is just the subset of my DVD queue that is streamable. If they break that link, and I derive no gain from being BOTH a Netfli…

they've also given up on the complete Netflix brand recognition. Going with a completely new name is going to lose all the loyalty they built up. While you can get movies from practically anywhere would may Netflix unique was there streaming and DVD services. This is deadly instance of creating multiple targets for yourself, they were deathly stronger together.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#162

Post by ShawnJG »

cookiecaper wrote: post #125
jonnathanson wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"...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…

I'll be interested to see if the split compels media companies to make more content available for streaming. Perhaps that's part of the logic behind splitting out the business; Netflix may have reasoned that it will put more pressure on content holders to license that content for streaming if it won't be available on Netflix at all anymore. In this scenario, it seems that Netflix may be throwing the DVD arm under the…

if that is their intention they're going to be an far rude awakening. Netflix's subscription-based model will never support the new releases that are currently offered on pay-per-view sites. They are now also going to be competing with cable companies who will most likely always beat them with new releases. They should've just made their DVD operation more efficient. The intangible value added to the company is completely underrated.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#163

Post by ScottBurson »

techdmn wrote: post #115
arithmetic wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Just to share my personal experience: My wife and I have been Netflix customers for years. Streaming is pretty convenient for us, but two major problems: 1) lack of content and 2) lack of subtitles / closed captions. Captions are important because we watch movies at night, after the kids are in bed. That means we keep things are quiet enough that you occasionally miss a line of dialog. Because of those two issues we'…

I think Netflix has basically two kinds of customers: mainstream customers and long-tail customers. The mainstream will be fine with this, but for those of us who like to draw our content from the long tail, it sucks.

My wife and I were on streaming-only for a few months, but last month I upped our account to streaming+DVD again for just this reason -- the stuff we wanted to watch just wasn't available, and didn't look like it was going to be anytime soon.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#164

Post by Triumvark »

hdctambien wrote: post #156
Triumvark wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Did Netflix kill independent video stores? Or did Blockbuster kill them?

Fair question.

We had a few video stores that really specialized in the long tail. They sat right across the street from Blockbusters or Hollywood Videos. Stuck around a few decades, thrived on the indie image (sorted movies by director, that sort of thing). They made it through BB's reign, and passed away only recently.

But eh, that's my limited experience. I'd welcome more data. Call it a hunch for now, and an open question.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#166

Post by fatdogs12 »

This move is simply idiotic. It doesn't matter what netflix wants, it matters what the customers want. Now I have to go somewhere else to manage DVD's by mail? With a horrible name like kwikster?! Are you serious? Why do I need netflix again? They don't have the budget to get the best movies and now they are making my life harder. They are like the opposite of Apple. I didn't mind the price increase from a couple moths back at all, I know it costs money to have a good selection. But now they have basically said "Oh hey we made a really stupid decision before so we're gonna make things better by making a worse decision."

I now hate netflix, I can cancel everything and move to amazon's streaming service. I think it's hilarious that an employee of netflix on HN said that netflix excels by being very focused. That makes no sense. You can't just treat your customers like crap and expect them to love you. I shorted their stock before the 20% and I can't wait to watch it go down further.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#167

Post by timr »

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…

"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."

And those devices are electronics, which have the shelf life of dead fish. You have to stay relevant to make it into the next generation of products. Nobody is pre-bundling a service that a) has a small subscriber base or b) doesn't have good content.

Moreover, many devices (like my own television) let you trivially download apps from any provider. I got amazon streaming on my television on the day it was announced. Being installed on a device isn't a competitive advantage when anyone can do it.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#168

Post by nirvdrum »

Triumvark wrote: post #107
va_coder wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Maybe the HN crew wants DVDs to die. But none of my non-technical family has any problem with DVDs. They work in just about everything. They're easy to lend out. They're easy to find (both in stores and when sitting on a shelf in your house).

For my part, I still prefer DVDs because I actually like owning the disc. But more than that, I have a 25 Mbps FiOS connection and somehow at least once a week when I'm streaming something, Netflix dynamically changes the quality. It's more annoying than skipping due to scratch discs and the quality comes out terribly. I have no idea if Verizon's playing games, but as long as ISPs lose out with streaming media, I wouldn't want to bank on that business.

I'm not looking forward to a world without physical media where content providers and ISPs can dick us around with arbitrary pricing for content.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#169

Post by Stratoscope »

po wrote: post #104
rufo wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

> Actually, isn't Quixtar the name of a MLM scheme?

Yes, Quixtar is Amway.

Re: Netflix Splits DVD And Streaming Businesses

#170

Post by cellshade »

techdmn wrote: post #115
arithmetic wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Just to share my personal experience: My wife and I have been Netflix customers for years. Streaming is pretty convenient for us, but two major problems: 1) lack of content and 2) lack of subtitles / closed captions. Captions are important because we watch movies at night, after the kids are in bed. That means we keep things are quiet enough that you occasionally miss a line of dialog. Because of those two issues we'…

Netflix has closed captioning now. Works great on my Roku 2.
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