Netflix - Not bad! Qwikster - uh, never mind...

They know no one will like it, they just want to be "ahead of the curve" again - and the curve dictates that DVD rentals are only going to drop over the years. They could have gotten away with it if you were a fool to not just stream, but the library simply isn't big enough yet.

The irony of this is that if Netflix hadn't killed the video store, they could totally focus on streaming and just tell disgruntled completist cineastes to get their kicks at Video Center IV.

Blockbuster killed the video store by taking over everything and sucking. Netflix killed Blockbuster.

Yeah the blood of the local and niche video stores outside of large cities (and a few, select college towns) is on Blockbusters' hands, not those of Netflix.

Seeing as how I only lived in a few, select college towns and large cities, you may have a point.

But in those burgs, Netflix definitely delivered the death blow.

Aren't you both in Chicago? Did you not see a bunch of stores close well after blockbuster's rise?

There are still mom and pop and specialty stores all over, but Blockbuster's ascent ruined it on a national level. The tipping point.

if you pretend blockbuster is/was a video store (not hard), my point remains the same. DVD delivery is Netflix's burden to carry unless they can actually provide the movie library of our dreams through streaming.

http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/10/netflix-signs-1b-deal-with-cw-to-stream-gossip-girl-and-other-hits.php

hahahahaaa

never change reed hastings, never change

As the competition in the online video market heats up, Netflix has been attempting to regain the luster it lost with investors and customers due to a series of dunderheaded moves, including hiking prices of 60 percent in the summer and CEO Reed Hasting’s bizarre statement in September that Netflix would split its DVD and Blu-Ray disc-by-mail rental service into a separate brand called Qwikster, a plan it hastily retracted on Monday due to widespread customer backlash (and perhaps, slightly, to the fact that the company had failed to secure the “@Qwikster” Twitter account from a trash-talking pothead.)

like, i doubt that "some pothead already had the @qwikster account" is what torpedoed the thing, they're a big company and it's only twitter etc, but nevertheless it makes me SO HAPPY whenever writers bring it up in articles

also can't wait to finally watch all 700 episodes of one tree hill

stock down to 86. Was at 324 before they raised prices.

lost 800,000 subscribers last quarter.

yeah that's unbelievable

i lol'd

feel like jim cramer right now

Is anyone else positioned to pick up those subscribers? Even if there isn't is there any possibility that NetFlix can get them back? It's almost mind-boggling how much damage they've managed to do to their brand in such a short amount of time.

yeah i kind of cant imagine they wont end up back with netflix? i suppose theyre going to hulu+ and amazon for now.

the company was still beat profit expectations, btw. likely wont turn a profit next quarter.

I still don't really get it -- I thought the story was that they originally signed very good content deals with providers who didn't really get that streaming was going to be very big; and as those contracts ended and were renegotiated, Netflix was paying something closer to market value for movies and TV. I didn't have the impression they were raising the price just because they felt like it.

I guess I still don't quite grasp why 800,000 people are so pissed about paying 1/4 as much as cable costs instead of 1/6 as much as cable costs. But obviously the facts are what they are.

kind of like how the same stores that will develop your 35mm film will also make prints from your SD card. Digital and film-based photography are completely different processes, but I don't have to take my exposed film to one place and my memory card to another.

You don't have to, but don't you? Film I would take to the drug store. Digital I would upload to Snapfish or something and order prints from there. They're totally different objects and I don't see why I would handle them in the same place. (Then again, film development and Benadryl are also totally different objects, and I handle those in the same place, so I guess there's no rhyme or reason.)

I get why people were annoyed at the price hike, but the Qwikster boondoggle didn't even last long enough to have a direct impact on consumers.

yeah it never even appeared on the website iirc

I guess I still don't quite grasp why 800,000 people are so pissed about paying 1/4 as much as cable costs instead of 1/6 as much as cable costs.

Maybe we should OCCUPY NETFLIX over this grave injustice

ya tbh netflix is so cheap (like, alarmingly cheap compared to what you would pay for like "unlimited entertainment" in the old days), the idea that people are quitting in disgust because they dont wanna pay $15 a month for like every movie and tv show ever DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR or INSTANTLY APPEARING ON YOUR TV makes me think the entertainment industry has no future at all

There is no tv in star trek.

hmm

Who created Holodeck content?

I loved when the Ferengi would try and sell people X-rated holodeck programs.

Who created Holodeck content?

― Je55e, Tuesday, October 25, 2011 9:47 AM (33 seconds ago) Bookmark

^^ important question

my guess is most of the unsubscribers were people who never actually used netflix spurred into action via all the press

In addition to the unsubscribers, I bet there were also a lot of people who reduced their level of service.

stock is down 42 points right now

:-0

RUSH ON NETFLIX, MOVE ALL DISCS OF SATANTANGO UP UR QUEUEUE WHILEST U CAN

it is deeply, deeply tempting to buy a shit-ton of Netfliz stock

I can't believe it won't go back up

ya i was thinking the same thing

(says the guy who knows nothing about "stocks")

every movie and tv show ever

I think this is a big part of what pissed some people off, because, at least in terms of the streaming service goes, they are a LONG, LONG ways away from hitting this goal. The streaming selection is, as of the last few months, shockingly awful. The physical disc selection remains pretty great, but I think a lot of people switched to streaming (instant access, duh) but were disheartened by the selection and then felt like then being asked to pay even more for this limited selection was kind of offensive.

Not saying I buy into this argument completely, but I do see where some people I've talked with are coming from.

yah im deeply opposed to the practice of owning individual stocks but i kinda want to buy a lil jus cause

I think the streaming selection is pretty great. All depends on what you like to watch. We watch something on streaming almost every night of the week.

yeah i think ppl who bag on the streaming are v unimaginative & expect it to have like all the big studio blockblusters immediately?

part of me wanting to buy stock is tied to discovering they have the entire "Wolverine and the X-Men" series up for streaming

I wouldn't say unimaginative, it's just about what you like. And I'll admit that my taste level probably isn't as refined as most ppl on ilx.

its more of a browsing experience than a place you can find the thing youre looking for

I'm seriously starting to wonder if the streaming via PS3 is a totally different streaming experience than most of you guys are having because, as of last night, I only had access to like a grand total of 200 movies via streaming on my PS3. Its an awful selection.

I stream via PS3; the problem is that the interface severely limits the choices put directly in your face. I usually make a list of things I'm semi-curious about and go directly to the search screen.

http://instantwatcher.com/titles/all

13,500 titles

Hmm, I've never been able to get the search to reveal anything that isn't already available via those on-screen options though.