Netflix changing price and plans

[Pyro]

Netflix is the one putting their foot down?

[Ksandra]

Netflix is the one putting their foot down?

they both are, but I'm glad netflix didn't give into starz's demands.

[bungiefan]

Well I'm still keeping netflix, it just looks like I'm going to drop some more cash on a bigger hard drive and download more things.

Her's an off topic question though, what sites do you guys use for either streaming shows, or downloading them. I usually use kickasstorrents.

EZTV.it carries almost everything I need in English. Horriblesubs, Tokyo Toshokan, and Nyaa.eu cover most of my JP show needs.

[Plow]

Mad Men has never been available for Instant Streaming in the United States. Only Canada has had it so far. It is finally coming to the US this July 27th though, thanks to a deal that was struck back in April of this year.

As has been said in this thread already, one of the biggest problems with Netflix is their search feature. They really need to make it a system that shows upcoming titles soon to be added. In addition to that, EVERY title needs to show their expiration date as every title has one. You can see them, but you have to go to outside sites such as Instantwatcher and the like. It's really sad to have to use outside tools to get the most out of something that should be there in the first place.

I have family members who complained about their Netflix accounts because they never understood the gimped search feature that is in place. They simply thought the limited titles shown in the catagory pages was all that was available. I'm pretty sure there are more people like them out there who don't understand the depth of Netflix's catalog.

Yeah, the problem is anything that's good/interesting enough for me to actually remember it to search isn't on netflix instant streaming.

Anyway, fuck this shit. Was barely if even worth it to me before the hike.

[Mellema]

Losing Starz will hurt, hope they can get some other contracts soon. I can understand Starz point of view though, b/c I canceled them from my cable when Netflix added them to streaming.

Right now the main thing keeping me with Netflix is that I can get it on my cell phone, so it's handy when I'm stuck somewhere and bored.

[Celeste]

Netflix will bend over backwards like the whore it is.

[Cruzizzle]

Got this email the other day from Netflix explaining the price changes and restructuring:

Spoiler: show

I messed up. I owe you an explanation.

It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing.

For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn't make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us). So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices. It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.

So here is what we are doing and why.

Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD. DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies.

I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service.

So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently.

It’s hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming.

Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.

There are no pricing changes (we’re done with that!). If you subscribe to both services you will have two entries on your credit card statement, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as your current charges. We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready.

For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that lovely red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo. I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard. I imagine it will be similar for many of you.

I want to acknowledge and thank you for sticking with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.

Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions.

Respectfully yours,

-Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix

p.s. I have a slightly longer explanation along with a video posted on our blog, where you can also post comments.

http://blog.netflix.com/2011/09/expl...id=netflixBlog

tl;dr: netflix.com will now only be streaming, qwikster.com will be the old netflix.com for dvd browsing/queueing only, new dvd mailer with "qwikster" logo. Also 2 seperate billings on credit card. Qwikster will also offer video games at launch (in "a few weeks").

Hopefully video game upgrade won't be too expensive.

[Ksandra]

Was mentioned in here:

http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/106...y-To-Get-Worse

Gonna lock this one just so we don't have two netflix threads going.