Netflix DVD-by-Mail Becomes Quickster

A

admin

Audioholics Robot
Staff member
We got this letter today from Netflix - part apology, part revelatory explanation of their recent price increase and plan-separation between DVDs-by-mail and streaming movie services. Turns out, Netflix has a lot more up its sleeve than we thought, though it all makes sense given recent moves and the rumors that have been cycling of late. In short, 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.


Discuss "Netflix DVD-by-Mail Becomes Quickster" here. Read the article.
 
jinjuku

jinjuku

Moderator
So in addition to paying more I have two consoles that I have to manage my service from?

I can't wait to see what other 'improvements' are up their sleeve:rolleyes:
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
I really need to finally finish that last Harry Potter movie, send it back, and cancel my DVD service. It's been months. I could have bought it by now...
 
BMXTRIX

BMXTRIX

Audioholic Warlord
I've heard a thousand people bash on me being with BB Online, and I still remain true that they've maintained a great product for me over the years, and now once again may be something people should consider.

Heck, anyone with a BB withihn a few miles of their home/work should be on board already.

Not sure what Netflix, or I guess that's Quickster, offers anymore for the money as an advantage over BB Online. I get 3 out at once, a coupon for an in-store game or movie rental, the ability to instantly switch out my delivered movies to different ones at my local store, instant return for new mailings at my local store, and have had access to game rentals as part of the service for a while now. The fact that I don't have to wait for a movie to get back to a warehouse before they ship the new one is just part of what is nice with the service. Oh, and in-store they are giving me 99 cent rental coupons for free everytime I go in, so I can pick up an extra movie anytime I go in there. About 40+ movies a month potential if I am an avid movie fan.

Still, I may eventually try out the Netflix streaming only option, which is one area where both BB Online, and apparently Quickster, has no worthwhile capability in at all.
 
smurphy522

smurphy522

Full Audioholic
Continuing the downward spiral

As stated by Mr. Hastings: "There are no pricing changes (we’re done with that!)."

Yeah but this change/split will surely piss off even more customers as now there will be 2x the hassle of searching and queuing, Etc. I have seen some responses from Hastings that there will be integration but no details. If no details yet that means it is still in the works and likely will only be developed as they garner "bad" feedback.

Unfortunately it seems that with the price increase a few months ago and now this split of services there will be even more jumpers.

Will have to wait and see - not me I canceled upon fee increase notice. Felt I was already paying too much and that was the straw......

Maybe Napster will pick up the DVD delivery portion as it at least rhymes now.
 
zhimbo

zhimbo

Audioholic General
I defended Netflix recently because the streaming was originally a free bonus to DVD service, a price increase was inevitable, and it was still a great deal as far as I was concerned.

This Qwikster (who thought of that name?) thing though...I don't see for a single moment how doubling the number services I have to manage and de-integrating my physical and streaming queues, recommendations, etc. helps me. I was willing to pay a bit more to maintain service, but why am I paying more for worse service?

I'm definitely going to start reassessing my options.
 
smurphy522

smurphy522

Full Audioholic
Maybe the new DVD delivery service should be called "Dumpster" based on the direction it is heading.

Obviously the decision to keep the name for the streaming service was based on the fact that it is embedded or already named in the set-top and E-devices streaming it into our houses. Many or most devices could simply rename it with a firmware update - for example. However why would an OEM initiate such a firmware change without compensation or support from "Netflix".
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
I dropped disc based media from Netflix last month and sent in my final disc. Streaming is fine for now at $8, but it better not change in the near future. I am surprised they actually rebranded the disc side, but it makes sense for them I suppose. I don't find the apology very sincere either. He is basically saying, I'm sorry we didn't tell people what was really going on? AND? Translation: I'm sorry we pissed off 1 million people enough to make them leave. Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

TRIXTER :D

BB isn't going to happen and the chance that many people have one that IS close is slim to none. My nearest store is much farther than I am interested in driving to pick up a movie.
 
H

Hocky

Full Audioholic
I've heard a thousand people bash on me being with BB Online, and I still remain true that they've maintained a great product for me over the years, and now once again may be something people should consider.

Heck, anyone with a BB withihn a few miles of their home/work should be on board already.

Not sure what Netflix, or I guess that's Quickster, offers anymore for the money as an advantage over BB Online. I get 3 out at once, a coupon for an in-store game or movie rental, the ability to instantly switch out my delivered movies to different ones at my local store, instant return for new mailings at my local store, and have had access to game rentals as part of the service for a while now. The fact that I don't have to wait for a movie to get back to a warehouse before they ship the new one is just part of what is nice with the service. Oh, and in-store they are giving me 99 cent rental coupons for free everytime I go in, so I can pick up an extra movie anytime I go in there. About 40+ movies a month potential if I am an avid movie fan.

Still, I may eventually try out the Netflix streaming only option, which is one area where both BB Online, and apparently Quickster, has no worthwhile capability in at all.
I figured that if I have to manage 2 services, I might as well try something else. I signed up for blockbuster online today and will be cancelling Netflix assuming that they provide an equivalent level of service (it honestly can't be much worse).
 
J

Jason626

Enthusiast
I've heard a thousand people bash on me being with BB Online, and I still remain true that they've maintained a great product for me over the years, and now once again may be something people should consider.

Heck, anyone with a BB withihn a few miles of their home/work should be on board already.

Not sure what Netflix, or I guess that's Quickster, offers anymore for the money as an advantage over BB Online. I get 3 out at once, a coupon for an in-store game or movie rental, the ability to instantly switch out my delivered movies to different ones at my local store, instant return for new mailings at my local store, and have had access to game rentals as part of the service for a while now. The fact that I don't have to wait for a movie to get back to a warehouse before they ship the new one is just part of what is nice with the service. Oh, and in-store they are giving me 99 cent rental coupons for free everytime I go in, so I can pick up an extra movie anytime I go in there. About 40+ movies a month potential if I am an avid movie fan.

Still, I may eventually try out the Netflix streaming only option, which is one area where both BB Online, and apparently Quickster, has no worthwhile capability in at all.

Since I switched from netflix to blockbuster this month I've noticed nothing diffrent on shipping times for discs between the two. I'm actually a bit happier having a store just down the road to drop off discs or swap it out if they have it there.

I'll be interested in seeing what blockbuster announces next month to rival netflix streaming services.
http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LRMR4Y0YHQ0X01-5GHD1D7F77H64T3IV179G93ESP

I always thought why is it so expensive to rent a video on demand when i can get it so much cheaper getting a disc from somewhere.
 
BMXTRIX

BMXTRIX

Audioholic Warlord
It'll certainly be interesting to see what happens with BB since this went down. It's like, for years, BB was the bad guy in town running mom and pop stores out of business. Then, Netflix comes along and runs BB out of business, but the completely takes on a BB type mentality, while BB has turned around and taken on a more Redbox/Netflix type mentality. $1 rentals, daily rates, and now an announcement of some sort of new on-demand service.

This next year or so could be really interesting.
 
96cobra10101

96cobra10101

Senior Audioholic
A few year ago when BB started the by mail movies and unlimited returns to store I had that. Then they raised the price and limited my in store exchanges, which I thought was BS because they basically broke the contract that we had. I decided to go with Netflix and cancelled my BB soon after. After about a year and not really keeping up on the movies I cancelled Netflix. My main reason for cancelling was Hollywood wasn't releasing anything I wanted to see. Cable tv has had my attention way more than the box office. Shows like The Wire, The Shield, Brotherhood, and Nip/Tuck were garnering my attention due to the characters and better stories that continued every week rather than 90 minutes. I am not sure if HBO started it, but the Sopranos set the bar high for quality storylines and acting, and with so many networks following in the tracks, I hardly have time to watch a streamed movie and can't justify the $9 a month or whatever it is, plus if I really want to see it, I can get it On Demand.
 
MapleSyrup

MapleSyrup

Audioholic
May this be the reason?

The following makes perfect sense to me. It's a take by Bill Gurley via Hot Air on Netflix's somewhat confusing move to split its company into a DVD mail service and streaming service respectively.

So here is what I think happened with Netflix’s recent price change (for the record, I have no inside data here, this is just an educated guess). Netflix has for the past several years been negotiating with Hollywood for the digital rights to stream movies and TV series as a single price subscription to users. Their first few deals were simply $X million dollars for one year of rights to stream this particular library of films. As the years passed, the deals became more elaborate, and the studios began to ask for a % of the revenues. This likely started with a “percentage-rake” type discussion, but then evolved into a simple $/user discussion (just like the cable business). Hollywood wanted a price/month/user.

This is the point where Netflix tried to argue that you should only count users that actually connect digitally and actually watch a film. While they originally offered digital streaming bundled with DVD rental, many of the rural customers likely never actually “connect” to the digital product. This argument may have worked for a while, but eventually Hollywood said, “No way. Here is how it is going to work. You will pay us a $/user/month for anyone that has the ‘right’ to connect to our content – regardless of whether they view it or not.” This was the term that changed Netflix pricing.

With this new term, Netflix could not afford to pay for digital content for someone who wasn’t watching it. This forced the separation, so that the digital business model would exist on it’s own free and clear. Could Netflix have simply paid the digital fee for all its customers (those that watched and not)? One has to believe they modeled this scenario, and it looked worse financially (implied severe gross margin erosion) than the model they chose. It is what it is.
With the demand for "Video on Demand" up and Hollywood never passing a moment to make a buck (nothing inherently wrong with that), streaming movies will become more expensive.

Allahpundit, author of the hot Air article, chimed this in:

Costs are fixed on the DVD side of the business because law provides that once you own a disc you can rent it as much as you like. Not so with streaming content, which has to be licensed. And needless to say, the more customers the streaming side of the business has, the bigger the piece that Hollywood wants. If Gurley’s theory is right, Netflix is essentially a prisoner of its own success; the “hybrid” users used to pay 10 bucks a month for DVDs and got the streaming service more or less for free, but as that customer base grew, so did the cost of streaming. Netflix’s solution, then, was a, er, “balanced approach” replete with cuts (service cuts, that is) and new revenue raisers in the form of a price hike. This is what austerity looks like, my friends.

[snip]

Now that streaming is here to stay, how long will it be before we see attempts to reform the law governing content licensing to bring it more into line with the law governing fixed media like DVDs? All the cheap streaming new releases you can handle are just a few congressional copyright lobbyists away!
Since presently there's really nothing Washington does not seem to not want to control and regulate (hey, a triple negative!) new laws may be on the way.

Great news: Not only will Netflix be more expensive, it’ll be twice as hard to use
 
Alex2507

Alex2507

Audioholic Slumlord
BB isn't going to happen and the chance that many people have one that IS close is slim to none. My nearest store is much farther than I am interested in driving to pick up a movie.
IIRC your beef with BB was that whole censoring thing, right? I'm still pissed that I rented Requiem for a Dream twice and still didn't get to see what I wanted to see but in the grand scheme of things it's a small nuisance and I've seen similar things elsewhere. :rolleyes:

Based on BMWTRIX's prior post in this thread and Darien's use of BB I am considering switching over to that service. I just wanted to be clear on what you saw as the down side of the BB on line service.

From what I've seen of the Netflix streaming thing I'm not much interested. Dropping it and going from a 2 to 1 movie at a clip package at their latest price hike was an easy decision for me. Granted my use of Redbox has sky rocketed.

if I really want to see it, I can get it On Demand.
I just got the Verizon Fios thing so I'm not at all familiar with it but my previous cable provider's on demand thing had me put off because of the lack of HD stuff and I believe some of the audio was two channel ... and I thought it was comparatively expensive. Am I right in my vague notions on this? :confused:
 
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AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
I'm currently using both Netflix (streaming + discs) and BB (online + in-store exchange).:D

I think it all comes down to whomever gives people the best bang for their buck.

If BB can offer on-line discs + streaming cheaper than Netflix, then everyone will flock to BB and cancel Netflix.

Until that happens, I think Netflix still has the edge even with the price increase.

Netflix now has so many streaming movies and their 1080p (more compressed than blu-rays) movies with 5.1 DD+ audio are growing in numbers. Some of the 1080p 5.1 DD+ movies & TV shows I've been streaming look and sound very nice.

At the same time, I hope BB does NOT go out of business. I hope that BB will become stronger.
 
BMXTRIX

BMXTRIX

Audioholic Warlord
I'm currently using both Netflix (streaming + discs) and BB (online + in-store exchange).:D

I think it all comes down to whomever gives people the best bang for their buck.

If BB can offer on-line discs + streaming cheaper than Netflix, then everyone will flock to BB and cancel Netflix.
Netflix won't be offerring discs. That's kind of the point of this whole headache. Today you have both on-line BD/DVD rentals and streaming in one nice user interface with one bill... Soon you will have two bills, two websites you must visit, and no common cross platform integration of a single product.

Netflix, will likely do well as a streaming only company, but Netflix the disc by mail company is dead. There is a new company they are calling captainridiculousname and you are now a member!

I see this as a golden opportunity for BB if they do something unusual and take advantage of this very quickly.

Either way, when Flikster, no affiliation to Spongbob, splits off and people start going "WTF???" it should help BB Online a fair bit I expect.
 
sholling

sholling

Audioholic Ninja
Netflix arrogance and cluelessness cost them a lot of what was left of their customer good will and as a result the stock is still tumbling. I'll be interested to see if the management team survives this debacle because the stockholders have to be really ticked off.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
IIRC your beef with BB was that whole censoring thing, right? I'm still pissed that I rented Requiem for a Dream twice and still didn't get to see what I wanted to see but in the grand scheme of things it's a small nuisance and I've seen similar things elsewhere. :rolleyes:
I was actually talking about the stores. I don't think there is a big downside to their online service, and they do still have kiosks in some stores. Yes, censoring is also another issue I have with them. Also, the number of issues I've had with them trying to charge me for movies I never rented even after I canceled them, etc... BB is around until Dish decides what to do with them. If they aren't profitable, the chances of them being around aren't good, and they are still fighting an uphill battle.

Netflix arrogance and cluelessness cost them a lot of what was left of their customer good will and as a result the stock is still tumbling. I'll be interested to see if the management team survives this debacle because the stockholders have to be really ticked off.
Netflix lost 1 million subscribers due to this fiasco. They still have 24 million. While it is more than they expected to lose, they didn't lose a big chunk in the grand scheme of things. It isn't arrogance, it is business. They said TWO years ago that they wanted to do away with physical media and they did, or at least spun it off. Yes, that means it now costs more unfortunately.
 
darien87

darien87

Audioholic Spartan
Based on BMWTRIX's prior post in this thread and Darien's use of BB I am considering switching over to that service. I just wanted to be clear on what you saw as the down side of the BB on line service.
BB used to be awesome for me. I'd get movies at home watch them and then return them to my local store that was about a mile away. Unfortunately they closed that store and the nearest one is now about a 10 minute drive for me. Inconvenient but not a huge deal. I either keep my movies until the weekend and return them then or I drop them off at the store on my way to work since the store is right off the freeway.

Can't do that with Netflix, Quikster, whatever the hell it is now. :mad:

But the BB store I go to has signs in it's window directly targeting Netflix customers. One mentions the Netflix price increase and the other mentions that they don't charge extra for renting games.
 

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