Felix Salmon discusses Netflix’s new “dual charge” subscription rates in terms that had not occurred to this satisfied (lazy) customer:
Up until now, it seems, Netflix has paid the studios a flat monthly fee, linked to the number of subscribers it has with access to their content. And when that got too expensive, it wound up cutting off streaming from its DVD subscribers to save on its own library-subscription costs…
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It makes sense, under this model, for Netflix to unburden itself of DVD customers who barely stream any movies but who still cost Netflix itself lots of money in subscription fees. But that just means that everybody would be better off under a different model — for instance, one in which studios got paid every time one of their movies was streamed. (That kind of system would also be wonderful for independent filmmakers, who could upload their movies to Netflix at no charge and then get a stream of payments as and when Netflix’s subscribers started watching their film.)
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Such a system would probably be better for the movie studios, too, since it would align their incentives with those of Netflix: they would get more money when people watched more movies and used Netflix more. As the studios and Netflix teamed up to persuade people to stream their movies, everybody would win.
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So why isn’t this happening? Because the media business is calcified, and has to be dragged kicking and screaming into any kind of new business model. The studios have a reliable revenue stream from Netflix right now, and they have no real incentive to swap that for something less reliable, even if that would make them more money. It’s short-sighted, but Netflix certainly doesn’t have the power to make them change their minds. And so we end up with Netflix removing the streaming option from a large proportion of its subscribers — something I’m sure it absolutely hates to do. People are blaming Netflix here, but it’s surely more likely that the real villains of the story are the studios.
And here I had assumed, without bothering to research, that the new dual-stream program had something to do with the much-discussed factoid that Netflix downloading “was responsible for 20% of all broadband usage in America during prime viewing hours”. Blaming the cable owners, rather than the content providers.
Are people really up in arms about “removing” the free-streaming option? I’m one of those top-tier users whose monthly bill will actually go down slightly when the new system is implemented. Discovering (at Netflix’s solicitation)that I could Instant-Play some of the titles in my queue, even on my underpowered desktop, led me to reduce my sub from 8 discs to a “mere” 6-at-a-time. But I was prepared to keep both options, even if my costs went up, because there’s lots of stuff I want to watch with the Spousal Unit (anime, recent BBC series) that isn’t available on-line.
Then again, we use Netflix as an alternative to cable/satellite. Discussion among my IRL friends whose personal-technology goods are high-end enough to qualify as home theatre systems is that a lot of them will use this as a reason to “finally” drop their physical DVD subs and go on-line only. And one or two people have said they may replace their increasingly-onerous cable services with a new Netflix streaming-only sub (these are not sports fans).
How is the new system going to affect your Netflix habits, if at all?
Console
Going from 2 blu ray discs + stream to stream only. So lower bill for me.
Caren
We’re dropping the DVD part of Netflix. We’ll use redbox for newer DVDs. We dropped blockbuster because they closed all the physical stores anywhere near us.
The kids stream Ponyo daily and can watch tons of cartoons. I can watch Firefly and Buffy and anything currently on Starz. So we’re keeping the stream, and dropping the reality.
Korea Beat
It will probably lead me to drop down to DVD-only, unless the streaming library expands a lot and I have time to stream two or three movies every week (unlikely).
Anyway, yes, people are definitely up in arms about it. When I look at comments at other blogs or on Facebook, the sheer level of anger and the self-righteous tone people have about their fees going up by a lousy six bucks a month is really pretty horrifying. It’s as if they think there’s a 28th Amendment guaranteeing them the right to cheap movies.
Jay C
I hadn’t thought about the new Netflix changes much; mainly ‘cuz we still view them as mainly a source of mail-order DVD rentals, with the streaming stuff as a sideline. The exact opposite, I gather, from what they’re aiming their business model to be. Since we’re top-tier subscribers anyway, it may not make much of a difference; but it’s a good reminder to look out for. Tx.
Dark_Moon
I was on the low-end tier subscription option of 1 DVD + streaming. With the price hike, however, I will downgrade to streaming only. I didn’t really use the DVD option very much, but I always had the option handy when I couldn’t stream features such as foreign and BBC shows.
Still I will probably save a 1$ and some change with the new re-structuring. I won’t cancel, but I am not really thrilled either.
Hunter Gathers
I’ve had the last DVD that they sent me for 2 months now, so dropping the mailed DVD’s isn’t that big of a deal. There’s more than enough content on the streaming option to keep the house occupied for freakin’ decades. I dropped my cable when I signed up for it last year, and I don’t miss it one bit. The cable company I had barely allowed me to watch any MLB games that weren’t on ESPN anyway (they show them on thier website, no loss there), and I can watch NFL games every Sunday without cable with the free converter box I got years ago.
slag
Netflix is one of the reasons I no longer have a neighborhood video store. Screw them.
Also, too, get off of my lawn!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
.
It puts a lot of things in perspective, doesn’t it? All the indignant rage about what is, in my case, an annoying but hardly earth-shattering price increase. I don’t know enough about the movie business to know how long/if new releases (isn’t four months after theatrical release the standard?) will become regularly available on line, but for now the streaming content is a pretty small for my viewing habits.
General Stuck
Not really much at all. I’ve taken to renting new first time viewed movies at the local grocery for 99 cents a pop, and don’t fool with netflix new releases, or discs much anymore.
I like Netflix as a company, and have heard the owner talk about the business and how he started up. He seemed like an old hippy, and netflix to me has a nice homegrown touch to it. Unlike Blockbuster. So I want them to do well, and make and charge what they need to, to stay profitable and not get corporate raided, or forced into merging with Blockbuster, or anyone else.
The streaming service is unmatched by anyone, and has been steadily upping its good movies, especially foreign ones I haven’t seen yet. Their overall prices have always seemed kind of low to me, and I will just stay with the streaming and renting new release movies locally.
Yutsano
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Shorter JFL: this is why we can’t have nice things.
different church-lady
I cannot comprehend why everyone is so up in arms about the cost of their completely optional entertainment going from superfund-site cheap to merely dirt cheap. I mean, other than the fact that we’re a society who’s only remaining skill is whining on the internet.
If I were Louis CK I’d know what to say about this.
Mike G
I’m dumping the streaming and going DVD only, saving $2. I tend to go for obscure foreign and older movies, a lot of which aren’t available on streaming. If they can get their entire catalog streaming that would be great, but they’re a long way off.
Constance
Won’t affect it at all. I never stream anything because my computer is in my office and I don’t like my office chair and I’m definitely not any kind of techie so wouldn’t have a clue about sending something from the computer to the TV. However, since my divorce 37 years ago I’ve never had cable so the TV is only for watching DVDs. There is no suffering involved for me if the thing isn’t on for six weeks at a time. I don’t even have a radio or CD player in the house at the moment. I love a quiet environment. Netflix makes money on me even with my measly two at a time membership.
NobodySpecial
What’s Netflix?
The Republic of Stupidity
Forgive me for going off topic, but…
Ouch…
Ahhhhhhhh… sweet, sweet schadenfreude…
First Lord Murdoch… and now this…
adolphus
I get 2 dvd’s at a time and streaming and will stick to it. My bill will go up by a buck or two. Whoopedoo. It is still under priced and I am paying less than 10% of what I paid for my movie/television habit before I got Netflix and the service is 200 times better.
And I for one do not rue the loss of the neighborhood store. Most were never worth a crap anyway full of pimply faced Tarantino wannabes who didn’t want to put in all that work actually learning about movies. The corporate ones were always in the pocket of the studies and the MPAA and actively conspired to keep independent movies from the shelves. The quality neighborhood video stores were few and far between.
And what is the allure of Redbox?? Low selection and nothing but the latest and greatest and all the dependability of a candy machine.
Other than poorly managed from a PR perspective, I am still agog at the vitriol aimed at Netflix. They haven’t raised their rates but once or twice since I became a member in 02 and then not by much.
As Louis CK said. Things are great and nobodies happy.
slag
@Yutsano: Am I remembering correctly that you use Clear for your internet, Yutsano? Any problems with connection delays or hangs on certain sites? Balloon Juice, for instance?
Sentient Puddle
Right now, I’m streaming only. I shrugged at the announcement.
Yutsano
@slag: My only complaint is that it seems like every weekend at midnight or so the connection resets or something and I have to power down the router to get it back. And there are the typical high usage lag times although the difference is usually seconds. I only lag on BJ when John forgets to feed the gerbils well.
Amir_Khalid
@The Republic of Stupidity:
Ahem. Rupe’s a naturalized American citizen. He has no aristocratic title of any description. Unless, of course, you mean Lord like in Voldemort, which does seem kind of apt …
stuckinred
When Starz/Sony disconnected Netflix became much less interesting.
General Stuck
Speaking of netflix streaming, getting ready to watch Snow Falling On Cedars for he first time.
Groucho48
I used to subscribe for 3 months on, six months off. That would let me catch up on all the newer movies I wanted to see. With streaming, I’ve been on for over a year, now. I’ll probably keep the streaming and drop the DVDs until there are a bunch I want to see.
I wasn’t an outraged screamer about the price increase but a 60% increase…for the plan I have…seems excessive. And the way it was presented…that it was done as a convenience to the customer…was annoying.
Geoduck
I dropped the streaming and kept the DVDs. (Actually, the DVD; I’m signed on at the super-cheap level.) For whatever reason, I dislike watching long movies on my computer, and wasn’t using the steaming service anyway.
slag
@adolphus: Show Louis CK this: http://www.techpark.net/2010/04/15/broadband-internet-speeds-2009-2010-the-top-10-countries/ next time he says something stupid like that. As far as internet connectivity goes, we’re getting our ass handed to us by South Korea. And a bunch of other countries. The land of Bill Gates and the Googleplex isn’t even in the top ten. How f’d up is that?
Mark S.
Some guy at FP argues that JFK was the worst president of the 20th century. Though I’d agree that JFK used to be wildly overrated, I don’t think he’s anywhere near the top five. But this puzzled me:
It was? Propping him up in the first place seems worse to me. Diem was a corrupt Catholic autocrat in a nation of Buddhists and was extremely unpopular. I’m not condoning assassinating other heads of states, but was Diem going to win the war or something?
middlewest
Gonna have to just drop the DVD side of it, and maybe look into Hulu or Amazon. It sucks that I’m stuck out of the majority of the Netflix library, but I’m not gonna pay for a service I only use occasionally.
Now I have to rush to finish Skins and John Adams.
different church-lady
@ slag: I think you’re doing one of two things:
1) Completely missing Louis CK’s point
2) Trying to reinforce Louis CK’s point in a snarky fashion too subtle for me to pick up on.
Seanly
The streaming selection better get a lot better. Even when they had Starz it was a so-so selection. I do love the streaming but might drop it if the selection doesn’t improve. Right now, the sic-fi selection is half kiddie movies and the action movies are half 60-yr old westerns (not a bad thing necessarily).
different church-lady
The internet is now a game where whoever hoards the most hyperbole wins.
Yutsano
@slag: It’s the rural electricity situation rearing its head again. In a country as large as ours, getting everyone onto the pipeline is extremely expensive and unprofitable for the Internet service providers. The only way we get anything resembling a 90% saturation is to federally mandate it just like we do electricity. Good luck getting that to pass.
stuckinred
Mark S.
From Halberstam’s “The Coldest Winter:
In addition, the Kennedy administration had done something extremely dangerous when it increased the larger mission to Vietnam: it corrupted the truth to suit its political needs for short term political profit-in effect buying time to get through the 1964 election. Because in the process it planted the flag even more deeply, it needed even greater results, for appearances were everything, and it needed them faster. But those results were not forthcoming, because the policy never worked. Never. Therefore, to compensate for the failure to produce the desired results in the field, the Kennedy administration soon created something quite extraordinary, a giant lying machine, one based in Washington, with its major affiliate in Saigon, and machine that not only systematically rejected all pessimistic reports from the field, and punished those who tried to tell the truth, but created it’s own illusion of victories and successes, victories and successes that never existed. It was a great exercise in self-deception: what the great lying machine did in that period was delay the arrival of the truth in Washington by some three years, and of course it also began the process of diminishing the credibility of the government of the United States. What was also lost in those three years was the ability to make wiser judgments about whether the commitment worked.. . .
One day when he came out of an NSC meeting in which they had discussed some disastrous problem handed down by the previous administrations he said, “Oh well, think of what we’ll pass on to the poor fellow who comes after me”.
stuckinred
different church-lady
It’s also a place where people buy into fantasies like Camelot.
slag
@Yutsano: OK. Thanks for that. Not sure if the problem is in our Airport or what, but our internet connection has some wacky quirks. We have three bars on our router, which seems like it should be plenty. May end up sending it back and going with DSL again, unfortunately.
Won’t do cable at all because of their persistent anti-net neutrality lobbying. Assholes.
On the plus side, I can recommend the GoogleTV. Decently priced, reasonable energy usage, screen quality ok (nothing special but not bad at all), and easy access to online content. All in all, as far as monitors go, it’s a decent choice. Wouldn’t want to spend hours surfing the net on that screen though. Better for video.
slag
@different church-lady: No. I understand his point. It’s all relative. That’s the point. But rather than just being relative in time, it’s also relative in space. And currently, our space kind of sucks…relatively speaking.
different church-lady
Pardon my “huh?” but Camelot — and fantasies like it — predate the internet by a healthy number of years.
Console
I figured more people would be like me and go stream only, but I didn’t think about the netflix ready device part. I mean outside of my comps, I got 3 netflix devices but not everyone is an avid gamer.
Seanly
I have problems with XBox Live dropping Netflix usually at a little after midnight. Of course, if I finally get a job I wouldn’t be up so late…
signifyingmnky
Much as it pains me, I’m more than likely going to streaming sub only. The downside is I’ve enjoyed renting Blu-rays this way, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to pay another $10 just to keep that option. I’ll just pick up something from the redbox when I absolutely need a disc. I only watch like a disc a month as it is.
That said, there was never any doubt with me that the culprit here was the studios. They’ve been putting Netflix and other new rental services over the barrel for sometime now and haven’t been quiet about it. The decline in DVD sales prompted them to stagger Netflix/Redbox releases in hopes that desperate movie watchers will buy out of desperation instead of waiting. Since that hasn’t really increased their take much, going after Netflix’s dvd+streaming set-up would be the next move. After all, Netflix needs their content to make money, what are they going do, refuse to deal?
This kind of thing has worked in the cable industry for years, content providers raise rates, the cable company follows suit for their bottom line and take all the blame for the hike.
Yutsano
@slag:
Are you using Clear too? Best solution is to find the place in the house that picks up 5 bars and move it there. Honestly the tower strength in this area is ridiculously strong, but the end point (the router) can be really fussy about finding it sometimes. For what I pay ($45 a month, which is actually a shit ton more speed than I need) it’s a great deal, especially after Qwest turned into a bunch of tools about buying their hardware first.
stuckinred
different church-lady
I’m sure you know that the Kennedy years were referred to as Camelot and while I may not believe JFK was the worst president of the 20th Century I also don’t buy all that dreamy bullshit about him.
different church-lady
@ slag: “You’re sitting on a chair… IN THE SKY!”
Or, in this instance, you’re sitting on a chair in front of a glowing screen having a conversation with people you’ve never met who might be half a world away, and you could in an instant flip the thing over to nearly any movie you want for the cost of a deli sandwich and a 20 oz. soda for the ENTIRE MONTH.
Everyone doing that should be always going, “WOOOOOOW!!!” There’s nothing really relative about that unless you’re staring at a bunch of statistics and have a jones for social competition.
Tom Q
I’m sure this is just another characteristic that marks me an old fart, but…who the hell wants to watch movies on their computer screens?
I’ve never used the streaming option, so I’m going to save a few bucks a month staying at two-DVD’s-at-a-time.
different church-lady
@ stuckinred: yes, Camelot, the catchy nickname for the Kennedy presidency/clan — and not Camelot, the topic of epic poems by Tennyson — is indeed to what I refer.
slag
@Yutsano:
Yes. And yes. But the current situation once again demonstrates the limits of the “free market”. Just another instance of us failing to maximize use of our resources and letting other countries get ahead of us in areas we should easily be dominating.
stuckinred
Um, Netflix streams TO TV’s via a number of devices including computers.
stuckinred
different church-lady
well, that settles that
guachi
Wife and I have 3 discs + streaming option. Only thing it does for us is increase our bill.
My wife is at school on the west coast while I’m on the east coast. She’s the big NetFlix user. She has a tendency to keep discs for a while so streaming means more usage. Plus, streaming means we can both use the service at the same time.
I, like your quoted Felix Salmon, wonder why content creators don’t get a certain fee per movie/episode watched. Seems easiest.
Currently, I get large portions of my content by using my PC TV tuner with 4 tuners and recording vast quantities of shows, removing the commercials, and encoding to a smaller file size. Means lots of HD stuff.
different church-lady
@ Tom Q:
Two things about that:
1) Nowadays your computer screen is made out of pretty much the same material as late-model TVs. It’s just smaller.
2) It’s pretty darn easy to hook the computer up to the big-ole TV nowadays.
Yes, it takes some getting used to for us old farts, but the concept that “delivery” requires fixed physical media to be of any quality is slowly slipping into history. Today your TV is just another computer screen and and your cable box is your telephone and and your telephone is your CD player all other forms of mish-mashery.
different church-lady
@ stuckinred:
Oh. Well now what are we supposed to argue about for the next 50 comments?
slag
@different church-lady:
Sure. Or we could all be having that same reaction while sitting around a fire we just made out of sticks and some dried leaves. It’s neat. We made fire. WOOOOOOW. That’s what technological advancement is.
I’m not saying I want a jet pack. I’m saying I want what South Korea has. I don’t think that’s too much to ask. This is the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, for fuck’s sake!
Tom Q
“Um, Netflix streams TO TV’s via a number of devices including computers.”
I’ve been told I needed to buy yet another device to be able to do that.
And people above are talking about watching ON their computers.
Emerald
Stuckinred, right. I’ve got two Roku players, one for me and one for Dad. We watch Netflix streaming all the time. (And you can use both at the same time) It has a remote that pauses and works just like a DVR remote.
But I also get Amazon videos if I want to buy them, and Newscaster (with Al Jazeera English) and CDNTwo with great university lectures (all available on iTunes but these play right on the teevee machine). Plus the TED channel, and weather, lots of choices for free (and more if you want to pay for channels).
So obviously I’m dropping the DVDs, although I do enjoy them.
stuckinred
different church-lady
It’s 10pm, I’m not good for much longer. My bride blew out her ankle and we’re trying to figure out how I can possibly do what she wants in the garden tomorrow what with the British Open and Soccer! May have to hit it a O dark hundred.
Yutsano
@slag: I also find the whole internet connectivity situation a bit odd, considering South Korea is the size of a smallish state in the US. It’s not exactly a fair comparison. Now if China starts making big inroads on the Internet infrastructure…then I’ll get worried.
Can we haz better political leaders now plz?
Tom Q
49.different church-lady
Thanks. I always adjust eventually; just a few years behind the rest of the world.
stuckinred
Tom Q
Yea, the devices are called “cables”.
stuckinred
Emerald
My sony blu ray player is hardwired so it works pretty well except on occasion.
slag
@Yutsano:
OK. You’ve convinced me to keep trying with it. I do think it might be a router problem. Didn’t know that about Qwest. Obviously, they’re assholes too. Bought out by CenturyLink, it looks like. I’m sure that acquisition will be just great for consumers, as it always is.
slag
@Yutsano: Size matters. But so should GDP.
ETA And, if it’s not obvious, I think GDP should matter a lot more. We have the resources. We lack the initiative.
rikyrah
if I didn’t have a 3 year old niece, I’d drop the streaming. the thing is, 90% of the stuff I stream is kid’s programming.
so, if I they didn’t have their children’s content, I definitely would be dropping the streaming part. as it is, I guess I’ll be accepting the double fee.
different church-lady
@ Yusanto 55:
“We get the political leaders we deserve” — I think this thread is kinda proving it.
@ Stuckinred: Best of luck to your bride. And it’s good to have problems — it means you’re still alive.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@different church-lady:
I’m sure you can manage to find something.
@stuckinred: Good thoughts for healing for mrs. stuckinred and happy gardening to you, my friend.
stuckinred
different church-lady
God, we just watched Barney’s Version with Giamatti and Dustin Hoffman. Talk about problems!
different church-lady
@ 63: Naw, sometimes I just slip off into pleasantries. It’s getting harder for me to keep my energy up for constant meaningless misunderstandings.
Console
Shit, now they have tv’s with wireless internet capability and blu ray players with the same. And if you look at something like the Sony ps3, you have a wireless internet device that let’s you stream from your laptop’s media (a must for illegal dl’ers) plays blu rays and just so happens to play games. I probably have just as much tv/movie time on that thing as gametime. Don’t think of netflix instant stream as pc only. You’re selling yourself short.
stuckinred
a hip hop artist from Idaho
Thanks, she tough as nails but this it difficult. I’ve got her soaking it in ice water so that should help. The real bitch is that it was an incredibly cool day for Georgia and she couldn’t do diddly.
stuckinred
Console
My iPad 2 does the trick as well.
rikyrah
TomQ,
I stream Netflix on my laptop. comes in crystal clear. I don’t have any of the devices that you can do it on the tv, and refuse to buy them. looks good on the laptop.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@stuckinred: It’s a bitch to have to sit out a coolish day in a steambath like Georgia. If you’ve got any arnica gel, that can really aid the healing, to an extent. Arniflora is a widely available brand at health food type places if you do not.
stuckinred
a hip hop artist from Idaho
thanks, I’ll trot down to Daily Groceries tomorrow and get sum.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
The PS3 supports streaming netflix. We have U-verse + a G router through the PS3 to the TV and it works rather well.
As for their split pricing, I will probably drop to one disk at a time. When we first restarted last year, we were watching disks every 3 days, so two at a time worked. Now that we’ve seen most of the stuff we’ve missed, dropping back to one plus streaming will work.
tBone
Won’t affect me at all – we signed up for the streaming-only option the day it became available. Even with two plans (one for me, one for the wife), it’s cheaper than the 3-disc a month plan we had previously. And we don’t have discs sitting around for weeks or months at a time, slowly building up the levels of guilt and free-floating anxiety in our household.
The streaming library has a lot of gaps, but it gets better all the time (oh hai, every live-action Star Trek evar), and it beats the hell out of paying $50-$125 a month for 500 shitty cable channels I would barely watch.
Corner Stone
Fuck Netflix. Pirate, ho!!
Karen
@Emerald
I just bought a Roku last month and I know Amazon Prime videos work on there but does Amazon Instant Video?
tBone
@Console:
I have three boxes hooked up to my TV alone that do Netflix, and we have at least half a dozen other devices around the house (not counting computers) that support it too. At this point I’m expecting my next toaster to come Netflix-ready.
WaterGirl
@ stuckinred
Stuckinred, are you feeling cranky tonight because your bride blew out her ankle? (sorry to hear that, by the way) ’cause your comment to Tom Q seems kind of harsh :-).
tavella
Like Groucho, my plan is jumping 60 percent, and I find the people going “well, you should be GRATEFUL you can do it at all” somewhat annoying. I simply don’t use it very much most months, so as a combined package they had been worth my $10, but it’s not clear either part is worth $8. If I keep anything it will be the streaming, just because it will be easy to change my plan if I get in a mood to watch something DVD only.
Heck, $8 a month easily covers Amazon Prime and change, so I could get free fast shipping and the occasional video.
Nylund
The wife and I are terrible about watching/returning our DVD’s, so we’ll probably just do streaming. For what we can’t stream, well…there are other ways to get things on the internet.
If the studios are at fault for this, it seems like they’re making the same mistakes the record industry made…doing everything possible to make the illegal methods seem as attractive as possible.
WaterGirl
@ stuckinred
I second what Bella Q said. Also recommend that you pick up “arnica montana”. It’s arnica that you take internally, and it comes in a small cylinder that is maybe the size of a pinky finger. It comes in different doses – I would get the 1M for a bad ankle thing like that.
I took a bad fall last Monday. Had some arnica montana with me, which I took right away, then used the arniflora as soon as i got home. Amazing healing.
J
no effect, as I do not use Netflix.
tavella
I should note that it’s not particularly crazy or weird for Netflix to want to separate streaming and dvd; they don’t want a bunch of people who really want only streaming to become a sump for long held dvds, and they don’t want a bunch of extra ‘streamers’ who don’t use it at all affecting their negotiations with the studios.
It was presenting it as some kind of advantage to all users and not providing a discount for the combined services that was where they went wrong.
adolphus
I second Console:
I can stream it through my schools wifi in every building onto my iPod Touch and then patch it in to the cardio machines at the gym and watch anything on Netflix streaming while I work out. That alone is worth the streaming fee.
Tom Levenson
I dropped my one-at-a-time dvd plan, going for the all streaming one; I may reconsider, but we don’t watch much of anything these days, so this doesn’t have the same impact as it might.
I will get a hi-def antenna for my new(ish–4 months old) tv, and I am about to drop my pretty minimal cable plan. I miss baseball — but comcast already subbed out NECN for the NFL channel on my bare-bones plan, and I can certainly do without 8 random Thursday night games, so no big loss there. And my 11 year old has become addicted to streaming Top Gear, so he’s no longer demanding cable either.
All in all, even if my monthly Netflix charge goes from 10 to 8 to 16 bucks (just to get DVDs back), I’m still saving hundreds a year, so I’m not much excercised.
Calouste
@Yutsano:
Not just is South Korea not very large by American standards, the country as a whole has a higher population density than any US state, and about 15 times the US average.
Mr Stagger Lee
I would love to do stream only if their was more movie choices, I stream for some TV series like MI-5 or Sons of Anarchy. I would love to get some of the HBO series, but when I can’t The Kings Speech, well I will stay with Netflix for the moment.
piratedan
tbh i don’t use netflix for anything…when i want to watch a movie that’s new, i use redbox, if i like, i buy it later when its cheap because I don’t wanna watch a film on a laptop and I haven’t plunged yet to network the TV into the internet via cable although that’s my next project when I get home.
Lizzy L
I like this change. I have no cable, and no interest in streaming — but will happily pay $8 per month for my two-at-a-time DVD plan. I’m saving about $6 each month. Thanks, Netflix!
birthmarker
I get one DVD at a time, and stream. (Love the documentaries.) I will just keep paying. It’s still an incredible bargain. If I had been in charge, I would have offered a buck or two discount to those who did both.
Adolphus-how do you stream to your itouch and save it to watch later? Or maybe your school and gym are at the same site?
To those using your computer or ipad to watch on tv, how do you get the tv to show what is on the computer screen? I understand there is a cable involved, but do you just put the tv on a certain station?
Sorry to be tech-illiterate…
velouria
The price increase is causing me to turn off the streaming portion of my account. I just can’t justify paying $8 per month for it when I’ve already watched much of the good content available and they’re so slow to add titles (both new and catalog material). Instant watch needs to get a whole lot better before I’ll pay a separate charge for it.
I’m sticking with the 3-out blu-ray plan and saving $4 from what I’m paying now.
Hawes
I’m just biding my time, waiting for the great internet capture of all media. The day of the a la carte TV/movie/music world seems about a decade off.
When that day comes it should really shake up content providers, hopefully in a good way.
I think about nets like F/X and how they could reach a much larger audience by streaming rather than saying, “Tune in at 10 to watch Wilfred.” DVRs have already obviated the need to tune in at 10. Why not just go the rest of the way?
Joel
Not at all. I live one block from that rarest of occurrences: A video store. And a good one, too! Local, all that jazz. The rental rates are competitive with Netflix given my usage.
tkogrumpy
Sorry I’m late, I was watching my Netflix DVD. The spousal unit and I have the least expensive one DVD at a time which ends up costing us less than a buck a film. I have no complaints and I never get out of my lazy-boy.
DaddyJ
I was just thinking to myself about a week ago that Netflix has been a wonderful technology and a great deal for consumers and was thus probably not long for this world in its present form. Inevitably some puke in suit will get ahold of it and “monetize” it to death.
I’m old enough to remember when cable was exciting because it was ad free and cheap!
That said, I think this current Netflix price restructuring is not unreasonable. We have a two-disc subscription, with streaming through a Wii into our TV. And no cable! (The ATT UVerse salespeople weep when they pass our house.)
I’d do just streaming, except that selection, while improving, has a ways to go and we like DVDs for some titles (subtitles for Brit TV are sometimes essential).
Also, streaming titles sometimes drop out of the library. Had the final two episodes of Doc Martin to watch when they pulled it last week; I assume for some licensing reason.
Percysowner
@Karen:
Roku absolutely does Amazon Instant video. If you happen to be an anime fan it does Crunchyroll as well. It has lots of “private” channels for many different streams. I LOVE my Roku.
Right now I have the 3 DVD at a time option so my price is only going up by about $4.00, no biggie. The biggie comes when my daughter moves out and I have to decide if I want to get DVD’s shipped to me and jump off her account, which I pay for. I probably will do that so I can get the stuff that can’t be streamed.
BeccaM
For me, it’s a bandwidth thing. In our last house, we had cable and I streamed a ton of shows on Netflix, to the point where I was barely using the DVD option — and in that instance, probably would’ve dropped that half.
Last March, we moved to a new place with slow DSL, and streaming is nearly out of the question. So I upped our DVDs to 3 at a time, and dropped the streaming.
Canuckistani Tom
None of this affects me or anyone around here, as Netflix didn’t start service to Canada until last September, and that was streaming only.
Seanly
A lot of people seems to be ignoring that the quantity & quality of streaming movies on Netflix sucks. Unless I am an idiot (yes) & missed an announcement about that changing come the $6 jump.
Comrade Kevin
I will go to streaming-only, seeing as that is the only thing of theirs I have used in the last year.
Comrade Kevin
Uh, fail for me, I just noticed that I had two DVDs out for like 3 years, and had lost them. Whoops. At least the fee for them is only $14 each.
different church-lady
@ birthmaker (90):
You need to have a halfway modern high definition TV that has digital inputs — DVI, HDMI, etc. (Some of them might even have old fashioned analog VGA inputs). At that point the computer treats the “TV” like it’s just another computer display, and the TV looks at the computer like it’s just another digital video source (like a blu-ray player, for example).
Even for old standard definition TVs you can get cheap adapters that convert VGA into composite video (otherwise known as the yellow “Video in/out” jacks on an old-world VCR) . The quality for computer graphics is atrocious. However, if the content you’re streaming is also old-world standard definition, it looks fine, really not much different than hooking up a stand-alone DVD player.
different church-lady
@ birthmaker (90): my semi-detailed answer to your question apparently contains spam words. Check in tomorrow to see if it pops out of moderation.
miwome
I thought it wouldn’t affect my Netflix use at all, since all I was in it for was the streaming–I can’t count on myself to get a DVD back in anything like a timely manner, so the DVD subscription never made sense for me. But then a couple days ago I went on Netflix to pick up on season 1 of Dexter where I left off, and oh look–I can’t stream Dexter anymore. If a wide range of streaming content has suddenly gone non-streaming (I haven’t looked into it yet), then I might well be out.
Brachiator
I don’t use Netflix. Yet. But the issue is not just Netflix, but any other company that provides video content. And as the referenced article notes, the movie and tv studios are stuck trying to make outmoded models work.
The sadder thing is that Netflix, which used to be somewhat nimble, is caught in a trap. Their new business model tries to push streamers and DVDers into separate camps. This is nonsense. A household with kids might want to get streaming movies for the adults and DVDs for the kids.
Also, currently, Netflix’ DVDs have more new releases than the stream, which makes their segregation of customers even more stupid.
We’re at this weird technological tipping point. Smartphones, tablets and home theater systems are all changing the ways that people watch movies, tv shows and other video content. But the direct supply, satellite, Internet, cable, satellite services are having trouble keeping up. The weird thing is that neither the tech geeks nor the old school media executives have much of a clue as to how to proceed.
And worst of all, the federal regulatory agencies and the courts are firmly stuck in 19th century ways of thinking.
It’s messy. But things will work themselves out.
Yutsano
@Canuckistani Tom: And in an interesting irony, Redbox outsourced their customer service center to Chilliwack. I was still with the company when that happened.
Ripley
CS@75: What he said.
Do the wrong thing.
Anne Laurie
Quality depends, to a large degree, on bandwidth and equipment. Around here, that’s Fios (excellent) run thru a 21″, 18-month-old monitor or a 30″, 10-year-old TV. For television episodes and most documentaries, streaming on the desktop looks as good as DVDs on the tv, except when I get audio/visual lags because there’s not enough memory on this thing. (One lousy gigabyte! And here I can remember when jumping jumping from 5-inch floppies to 3-inch discs was a massive technology upgrade!) Quantity, well, that’s why some of us will keep paying for both streams…
arguingwithsignposts
I have the same dvd i ordered when i signed up for the service 4 years ago. But last night, spent three hours watching a documentary about the Shakers, an episode of kumars at no. 42 , and bourdain’s “no reservations.” i will probably kill the dvd part.
While it may make sense to us for Netflix to pay a per stream price, that could wash their business model away pretty quickly. Movies are not songs, and so don’t fit the itunes per song pricing model, even at fractions of a cent per stream. Imho.
jake the snake
I am one of those not happy about this. I am on the lowest tier and use both streaming and DVD about equally. My cost would go up 60% for the same service.
I am undecided right now. I stream through my WII. I bought a Panasonic Blu-Ray player that does not stream Netflix.
At the time I bought it, it was the highest rated upconvert machine and I thought I was unlikely to subscribe to Netflix. I have no intention to buy another player.
I don’t know if the streaming quality is better on Blu-Ray than the WII (the quality is marginal on the WII).
So, I likely will drop the streaming since more of the movies I tend to view are not available in streaming.
KXB
Being one of the the cheapest people I know, I dropped the streaming portion of my 1 DVD plan. I hardly used streaming, because the idea of sitting and watching a 2 hour+ movie on a computer screen holds no appeal to me. I use Netflix mostly to watch TV shows I did not watch when they were running, or do not have the channel. On holiday weekends, when I have more time to watch, I just go to my library and rent additional movies for free. I can also renew those rentals online, so there is an additional convenience. The local movie theater is $10, so my $8 per month is an amazing bargain.
Jane2
In Canada, we only had the streaming option, and it works great. I could get Movie Central with a bastardized HBO and some mediocre-to-bad movie channels on cable for 19.95 a month, or subscribe to Netflix with some interesting TV, and mediocre-to-good movies for 7.99 a month. This is really a no-brainer.
However, some people are always using their broadband to bitch about how they can’t afford six bucks (or any amount of your choice) a month. Fine…then stick to basic cable. Or go to your library and get DVDs for free. Or read a book. Or watch free Hulu, etc content. Cheap, unlimited home entertainment is not a constitutional right.
Martin
Bottom line on this:
The studios need a minimum of $40 per household to cover production costs. The more people unplug and go to Netflix, the closer to $40/account they’re going to have to charge to keep the studios agreeing to pushing content through Netflix or Hulu, etc.
That’s the end-game. For a while there will be ways to score a better deal but before long it’ll wind up a minimum $40/household, either direct subscription fees or ads or whatever.
Martin
AppleTV. $99, has an interface for Netflix on your TV, and comes with a remote – no subscription costs for the device itself. There are a few others at a similar price point.
Misha
My wife & I did the same as some of your friends, Anne — dropped the disc option all together and went to streaming only.
phil
I’m pissed with Netflix because they still haven’t sent me an email explaining the changes. Only read about the changes in the media.
For all of you who still need to connect their computers to the TV for streaming, wander over to monoprice.com for inexpensive solutions to your connection problems.
birthmarker
DC-L–Thanks!
birthmarker
Phil-Thanks to you, too!
PaulB
I work in the eBook business and I can tell you that the publishers are doing exactly the same thing the studios are doing. It’s absolutely maddening at times.
ding
I’m going with the LIMITED plan: 1 DVD (max of 2 per month) and 2 hours of streaming per month for $4.99