Remember that much maligned Netflix split fromlast month? Well, it ain't happenin'.

[markw]

"(CNET) Netflix's leadership has decided not to follow through with a plan to spin off the company's DVD-by-mail operations.

What that means is the service, called Qwikster, is dead, at least for now, barely three weeks after managers disclosed their intentions. It also means Netflix customers get something akin to their old service back, the one that enabled them to go to one site to watch videos streamed over the Web as well as order DVDs for home delivery. Netflix, however, didn't back down on price; access to movies streamed over the Internet as well as DVD rentals will still cost $16 per month."

Well, the price jump still stands, though. Click here for the full yak.

 

[Theresa]

This is good news to me as I use both BD/DVDs and streaming. I'm willing to pay for both as long as I don't have to give up one or the other which probably would have happened if their split went through.

 

[Midwesthonky]

Ultimately, you gotta do what your customers want. People liked to use both options. So having to deal with two different accounts, websites, etc just didn't appeal. I guess their leadership team realized what a mistake they had made and went back on it. I do think it wasn't a good idea to begin with. I would have increased prices in several phases over a period of time rather than one big jump. It's the old how do you boil a frog phenomenon.

Their leadership made the right call in my opinion, but they have really made themselves look stupid and caused all kinds of bad press. Their brand reputation took a real beating. At one point, I was considering joining Netflix. But now, I'll just wait and see what they will do next to try to chase me off.

 

[j_garcia]

It isn't like I am going to add disc based back to my plan though...unless they give it to me for the old price We already knew it was a dumb idea; it just took them a while to figure out that you don't fix what isn't broken and you definitely don't get rid of the portion of your business that is the bread and butter of what you do.

 

[zhimbo]

Well, I'm much happier. I never really objected to the price increase, it's still a bargain as far as I'm concerned, considering streaming was originally a free add-on to the disc service.

On the other hand, the splitting of the services seemed like such an insanely stupid idea all around - absolutely nothing about it made sense from the customer's perspective.

 

[majorloser]

A little late for that one. Those of us who left are most likely not coming back.

 

[j_garcia]

The email (Dear John LOL):

Dear John,

It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs.

This means no change: one website, one account, one password…in other words, no Qwikster.

While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes.

We're constantly improving our streaming selection. We've recently added hundreds of movies from Paramount, Sony, Universal, Fox, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, MGM and Miramax. Plus, in the last couple of weeks alone, we've added over 3,500 TV episodes from ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, USA, E!, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Discovery Channel, TLC, SyFy, A&E, History, and PBS.

We value you as a member, and we are committed to making Netflix the best place to get your movies & TV shows.

Respectfully,

The Netflix Team