Interesting Netflix email

[stargate]

Just got this email from Netflix. A good decision and glad to hear they are listening to their customers.

-----------------------------------

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

[kupomogli]

Are they still going to use Qwikster for video games?

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Are they still going to use Qwikster for video games?

Sounds like they're done making any changes for the foreseeable future.

No more price hikes, no Quikster and (unless they say otherwise) no games (but of course they may very well say otherwise to that at some point in the future).

[Lanzo]

Hmm I don't see how two websites for 2 different operations would be confusing. To me it sounds like they will be offering games using Netflix name instead of separate qwickster entity. I don't think they would go back on the game idea that's were the competition is going. Unless they thing they can make up for it with all the extra content. I wish they would put more new releases. I'm not really into renting games anyways.

[rlemmon]

Seems like there c.e.o. needs to get icked to the curb. It seems like he has no idea what he's doing.

[substantial_snake]

Hmm I don't see how two websites for 2 different operations would be confusing. To me it sounds like they will be offering games using Netflix name instead of separate qwickster entity. I don't think they would go back on the game idea that's were the competition is going. Unless they thing they can make up for it with all the extra content. I wish they would put more new releases. I'm not really into renting games anyways.

I think its more about convience then it is confusion. I could deal with two passwords, que systems, websites, and even two bills but I want two considering the current service does just fine. I really think that bullshit "apology" along with the price increase and other netflix issues lately made this the worst time to do something like this..but they went along with it anyway.

I think what they were trying to do was split the services to negotiate seperate licensing contracts for each service because from what I understand they would effectively be two companies and thats the only real reason I can think of for trying this.

I use netflix mostly for watching older shows I missed while on or documentaries and am interested in a game service depending on what they offer and how much. I am personally ok with paying 30 bucks a month for netflix considering its brought down my dvd costs to next to nothing

[jonebone]

Seems like there c.e.o. needs to get icked to the curb. It seems like he has no idea what he's doing.

No, he was a smart... of course the rich got richer. Him and several other people within the company started selling their stock 2 months back before this change, when it was $300.

They make the change, the stock plummets to $100 and the faithful investors in the company just lost 66% of their worth, unless they cashed out earlier at smaller losses.

You can kick the CEO to the curb, but the millions he made are already locked in.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Rebranding when not in your interest is harmful, just the same as not rebranding when it is. The Qwikster rebrand was a push move. If it was revolutionary, it would have had a much higher chance to be accepted and successful. It wasn't. Mostly, successful rebranding moves are motivated by pull/demand realignment.

Netflix isn't a Nintendo or Apple, that's for sure.

[sfchakan]

What's fucking hilarious is you still see articles written by people PAID to write articles that still bitch about "the price hike." Netflix screwed the pooch by not being honest with folks and saying "it's costing us more to give you the same stuff."

Now they'll get to wallow in this crap for forever. It'll be 2021 and you'll still be hearing "that damn Netflix price hike of 2011. Those bastards!"

[Icarus Moonsight]

While the real world swaps over to Amazon streaming or something similarly sensible.

[sfchakan]

While the real world swaps over to Amazon streaming or something similarly sensible.

Despite all of the bad press and the vocal minority of people who like to get upset over small shit, plenty of us aren't going anywhere any time soon. Netflix is available on every device in and outside of my house that has an internet connection. When you can match that with a reasonable price and better selection, then we'll be interested.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Yeah, I was just referring to your 2021 projection mostly... No judging. LOL

I'm a Hulu free-rider (ad-rider to be more accurate) myself ATM. Since they still ad you on Plus, outside of movies, I figured the incentive to pay just isn't there for me. Once I get around to actually owning a smartphone, tablet and home devices that access streaming, that's when I'll be shopping a pay-to-stream service. My outlook and current thinking makes Amazon look appealing, since Prime is starting to look like a "why don't I have this yet" deal.

[retroman]

im done with them.....got rid of them a month ago...online and redbox is 100 times cheaper

[goatdan]

Rebranding when not in your interest is harmful, just the same as not rebranding when it is. The Qwikster rebrand was a push move. If it was revolutionary, it would have had a much higher chance to be accepted and successful. It wasn't. Mostly, successful rebranding moves are motivated by pull/demand realignment.

Netflix isn't a Nintendo or Apple, that's for sure.

Dead on. Great analysis.

To me, the Qwukster thing would be like Nintendo saying that they were going to spin off their portable business and call that company Pwortabel Consoles. All the years of branding they had built in would be squandered, and for what? Netflix had / has a solid name, rebranding for rebranding sake when the service is going to be the exact same is just stupid.

[sfchakan]

im done with them.....got rid of them a month ago...online and redbox is 100 times cheaper

Look at me, playing devil's advocate... but a Redbox machine holds how many different movie titles? I like Redbox as a service and have used them, but more often than not, I flip through it and find nothing I want to watch.

goatdan, your analogy doesn't work because Nintendo's "console" and "portable" business are exactly alike. You design hardware, develop for it, and support it. Machine A or machine B doesn't really matter, because it's the exact same thing with just a different letter.

Shipping/receiving thousands of DVDs a day and securing/streaming video are very different businesses.

[Wookie]

Dead on. Great analysis.

To me, the Qwukster thing would be like Nintendo saying that they were going to spin off their portable business and call that company Pwortabel Consoles. All the years of branding they had built in would be squandered, and for what? Netflix had / has a solid name, rebranding for rebranding sake when the service is going to be the exact same is just stupid.

I tend to believe the analysts who suggested the split was intended to make the streaming-only Netflix a takeover target, possibly by Amazon. Amazon wouldn't want the DVD part of the business because all those disc mailing centers would cause them unwanted tax headaches by establishing physical presence in many states. Amazon probably told Netflix "no deal" so there was no need to go ahead with the split.

That being said, when I signed up for Netflix 8 years ago, I got the 3-at-a-time plan for $18/month. Now, the exact same service costs me $16, and I can get my streaming elsewhere.

[sfchakan]

I tend to believe the analysts who suggested the split was intended to make the streaming-only Netflix a takeover target, possibly by Amazon. Amazon wouldn't want the DVD part of the business because all those disc mailing centers would cause them unwanted tax headaches by establishing physical presence in many states. Amazon probably told Netflix "no deal" so there was no need to go ahead with the split.

That being said, when I signed up for Netflix 8 years ago, I got the 3-at-a-time plan for $18/month. Now, the exact same service costs me $16, and I can get my streaming elsewhere.

I think that's very probable. They definitely aren't being very public about what's really going on there.

[Icarus Moonsight]

That's interesting... In that case, they would obviously have to divide the business under the legal protections, corporate crap (explains the rebrand) and create a whole separate corporate entity to do the transfer. What a headache.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Despite all of the bad press and the vocal minority of people who like to get upset over small shit, plenty of us aren't going anywhere any time soon. Netflix is available on every device in and outside of my house that has an internet connection. When you can match that with a reasonable price and better selection, then we'll be interested.

This this a million times this.

Netflix is compatible with everything these days. Everything, my toaster, literally everything.

It's that persistence and saturation along with the above stated reasonable price tiers that is going to continue to provide Netflix with the opportunity to remain the top dog unless A.) They do something catastrophically stupid to their own business (which it sounds like they narrowly avoided) or B.) Somebody else comes along and does everything better at a more affordable price (which, at the present time and even in the future I can't see happening in an "overnight" scenario).

Gripes like limited/poor selection on instant streaming will become less of an issue as time goes on as more studios become less resistant to making more of their catalogs available for the medium and permitted closer to the date of the DVD/Blu-Ray release. I've already seen marketing tags "available on DVD, Blu-Ray and Streaming".

And, where gripes about the selection are concerned, I think it's often an issue of personal taste misconstrued for "poor selection" for most users as Netflix currently offers THOUSANDS more TV and Movie titles streaming than most cable on demand services (or all of them put together) on any given day.

[kupomogli]

Netflix is compatible with everything these days. Everything, my toaster, literally everything.

Pics?

[sfchakan]

And, where gripes about the selection are concerned, I think it's often an issue of personal taste misconstrued for "poor selection" for most users as Netflix currently offers THOUSANDS more TV and Movie titles streaming than most cable on demand services (or all of them put together) on any given day.

I think a lot of people are ignorant of the full size of Netflix's Instant Streaming catalog as well. They don't know about sites like Instant Watcher (http://instantwatcher.com/titles/new) that list all of the new releases or additions each day. My Instant Que is insane and constantly has well over 100 titles. I will never catch up to all of it, especially with Netflix being more aggressive with getting television shows.

Beyond that, if someone is really obsessive about watching only new on DVD/Blu movies, well, then the service probably isn't for them. I'd agree that Redbox or, hopefully, a cheap, traditional store would be better for them (better selection than Redbox).



Pics?

Laptop or phone on kitchen counter. Works great. I love watching tv while making breakfast for the family.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Pics?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3518/3821392050_ac1956f1b4.jpg

Just kidding, that's not actually my toaster but it is a photo of an actual toaster oven equipped with a Netflix streaming projection screen.

Seriously.

[sfchakan]

That is... awesome.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

That is... awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI_jXa8UXS8

[BlastProcessing402]

That is... awesome.

I was going to say insane. @_@

[spongerob]

This whole thing feels like experimentation and PR under he guise of "well gee golly guys, we just darn goofed didn't we?". Right. I think Netflix was possibly sending out feelers, or they were just purposely setting up a scenario that people didn't like and dumped it when everyone hated it so they'd appear as a hero to the public. Nothing like good will when more and more competition is popping up every day. Netflix is much more savvy and slick than this clumsy charade.

[NayusDante]

*is too busy watching Star Trek and The Wonder Years to care*