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Comments on news posted 2013-01-24 12:37:00: Last year you'll recall many analysts were busy proclaiming Netflix would never recover from a very unpopular rate hike and their aborted attempt to spin their DVD business off into a company named Qwikster. Those analysts were wrong. ..

biochemistry
Premium Member
join:2003-05-09
92361

biochemistry

Premium Member

Why

Surprised they lost so many disc customers since it is the easiest way to get access to old and new movies alike. The online movies tend to be less popular and rarely the one you were specifically looking for.
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco

Premium Member

Re: Why

Tough economy.
b10010011
Whats a Posting tag?
join:2004-09-07
united state

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We dumped the DVD part and went streaming only long before the split.

Mainly because we never could decide what we want to watch next week. The vast majority of the time the move that sounded good last week sounded bad this week so it was returned unwatched.
Kearnstd
Space Elf
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Mullica Hill, NJ

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Also, the movie industry setup their artificial delay in releasing discs to Netflix for rental. So I think people are either using VOD now or Red Box. Red Box has the delay too but has at times side stepped it by just buying the movies at Walmart or from Amazon.(Movie industry cannot really stop this side route method as it breaks no laws. And they cannot threaten Amazon or Walmart because well, It is unwise to threaten your biggest retail partners.)
big_e
join:2011-03-05

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One reason I dropped the disc service is they aren't bothering to put any more money into it to keep discs available. With new releases, you have to wait forever to get it. With the older titles once the last disc in inventory gets lost/destroyed, it gets moved to the saved section, and they will never reorder it again. Back with the Quickster incident, they made it clear that they want the disc portion of the service to die off quickly.
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco

Premium Member

Netflix

I don't know if we will ever see another price hike. It's only a matter of time before this company starts hitting up ISPs for money. Netflix has gotten big enough that within a couple years they will be able to force ISPs to pay them for the service, or threaten to pull the plug and devastate the ISP. ISPs can't block Netflix but Netflix can block ISPs.

Snakeoil
Ignore Button. The coward's feature.
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join:2000-08-05
united state

Snakeoil

Premium Member

Re: Netflix

said by silbaco:

I don't know if we will ever see another price hike. It's only a matter of time before this company starts hitting up ISPs for money. Netflix has gotten big enough that within a couple years they will be able to force ISPs to pay them for the service, or threaten to pull the plug and devastate the ISP. ISPs can't block Netflix but Netflix can block ISPs.

Depends on the ISP I guess.
Comcast owns NBC and has access to it's content. Hence they may do what they can to protect it.
Verizon has redbox, so I think Verizon could care less about Netflix. Sure they like netflix money, but if Netflix jerks them around...

I dunno if Amazon has made any exclusive deals with a ISP as of yet, or if they will ever.
Same with Hulu plus.
PastTense
join:2011-07-06
united state

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The substantial majority of internet connections are either provided by cable companies or Verizon's FIOS. Their premium channel offerings (HBO, Showtime, Starz...) compete with Netflix. The amount of money spent on these completely dwarf Netflix revenues. So I quite disagree.

jmn1207
Premium Member
join:2000-07-19
Sterling, VA

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Both Netflix and the ISP are at the mercy of the content owners. In order for Netflix to keep up with the ISP, they will eventually have to increase prices to get the content that customers will demand, or else lose the content along with some disgruntled customers. The ISP always gives in to the demands and passes along the increased cost to the customers through rate hikes.

Netflix will not be able to keep popular existing programming at the same price level, because of the content provider's greed. They realize this, which is why they are creating their own content to try and add value to their service. The question is, will it be enough?
NoHereNoMo
join:2012-12-06

NoHereNoMo

Member

Re: Netflix

Given the "high" ratings for reality TV crap, they could probably setup webcams all over the world in "interesting" places and as long they're in HD, a large number of people will be happy to just stare at the screen for several hours every day ("ooohhh, look... a traffic jam!!!").
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd

Premium Member

Re: Netflix

said by NoHereNoMo:

Given the "high" ratings for reality TV crap, they could probably setup webcams all over the world in "interesting" places and as long they're in HD, a large number of people will be happy to just stare at the screen for several hours every day ("ooohhh, look... a traffic jam!!!").

People watching is honestly at times more interesting than television.

Thing is most people would not want to watch those HD cams because what we call reality TV today is really just a live in game show(big brother, survivor, etc). Nobody would want to see a street corner in NYC unless the people had to do some silly contest.

Guspaz
Guspaz
MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC

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I doubt Netflix could get away with blocking an ISP, as it would be considered a net neutrality violation, and many of the countries Netflix serves have net neutrality legislation or regulation.

On the other hand, we may see Netflix and an ISP sign a deal to include Netflix access with all ISP customer accounts, much like Bell Canada signed a deal with Microsoft to use Hotmail for all customer e-mail (on Bell's own domain).
tkdslr
join:2004-04-24
Pompano Beach, FL

tkdslr

Member

Re: Netflix

Blocking a customer ISP... would be breach of contract/fraud, much more serious.. A Criminal violation in most countries..

I..E.Collecting payment for service and refusing to deliver said service..
silbaco
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join:2009-08-03
USA

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Net neutrality doesn't work both ways in the US. ESPN has already granted access to content to exclusive ISPs without a single legal issue. Netflix is already doing some of this by only allowing ISPs who participate in their Open CDN to have SuperHD.
NoHereNoMo
join:2012-12-06

NoHereNoMo

Member

Re: Netflix

I think we should all resolve to call it "Normal HD" from now on.
decifal7
join:2007-03-10
Bon Aqua, TN

decifal7

Member

Its

Its a matter of time before a new vp with his fresh ignorant as hell degree comes in and decides to screw something up.. Like getting rid of the dvd portion of their buisness.. Something that alot of the folks that even subscribe to netflix really needs being most of the video stores are gone and broadband penetration hasn't progressed in nearly 5 years it seems..

lte isn't a real option with the low caps, so until they get reasonable, its not a legit option for the working families
rick0204
join:2009-05-20
North Bergen, NJ

rick0204

Member

Netflix vs Redbox

I went streaming only after the price hike and have used Redbox. Redbox is definitely cheaper but sometimes it is very difficult to get a popular movie on a weekend. Other problems include the machine being out of service, sometimes for days at a time. Also some discs do not play and there are always lines at the machine on the weekends. I recently took advantage of a free month of DVD's from Netflix and I noticed that Netflix has reduced the staff that is receiving the DVD's. During the 2 months that I had the DVD plan my returned discs were not received the next day twice. In one case it took 4 days. I decided to cancel the DVD plan because of this.
I was invited to participate in the Redbox Instant Service recently and I was given 4 rentals. The streaming catalog is very small and the devices are very limited. If this really takes off then the Redbox movies will all be out on the weekends.
I may eventually return to a DVD plan because I did like the reliability of receiving a new release on Tuesday each week.

Scatcatpdx
Fur It Up
join:2007-06-22
Portland, OR

1 edit

Scatcatpdx

Member

Growth due to demise of the video store

I am a resent subscriber to Netflix streaming, I think there are two factors for me. First the dearth of older videos with the demise of local video stores and high cost of digital cable TV.

As others put it I hate Red box, one can forget about wanting to watch an older videos or niche genre like Anime using Red box and forget about finding a popular dvd or blu ray.

As for cable, I pay seven dollars a month for streaming vs $29 to $60 above my cable internet bill for tv.; do the math, which is cheaper.

exocet_cm
Writing
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join:2003-03-23
Brooklyn, NY

exocet_cm

Premium Member

No facts to back this up

But I have a feeling Netflix and Google might team up at some point. Huge streaming video provider with deliverer of gigabit connectivity... sounds like a partnership.

cork1958
Cork
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join:2000-02-26

cork1958

Premium Member

Anal ysts!!

I wonder if any of those analysts had to repay the money they made from forecasting that stupid stuff.

If people quit listening to analysts, forecasters, prognosticators, etc., just think how many people would have a mind of their own and have to make their own decisions?!

That kind of junk along with the media, is way to influential to most non thinking people anymore.

Setting around watching Netflix, playing on Facebook, and playing games all day, has made most Americans half brain dead now a days!