DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Netflix's price hike . . .

So is this to celebrate raking in tons of money every second or maybe to celebrate Blockbuster & most all video rental joints going the way of the dinosaur? Or both? Seriously! I've attached an article AND the e-mail we received yesterday . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/techno...es-package.html

Netflix Raises Price of DVD and Online Movies Package by 60%

By BRIAN STELTER and SAM GROBART
Published: July 12, 2011

DVDs are not dead yet, but they are going to cost more — at least for customers of Netflix, the popular entertainment service, which said on Tuesday that it was sharply increasing the price of its Internet-plus-DVDs-in-the-mail plan.

What cost $10 a month — online streams of movies plus one DVD by mail at a time — will now cost $16 a month, the company said, tacitly acknowledging the high costs of mailing physical DVDs, but also admitting that many people still want the skinny little discs. Online streaming alone will remain $8 a month. Netflix advertised the change as a new choice for consumers.

For millions of customers, the shift in price might change the daily calculus of an entertainment diet made up of a myriad of choices: cable television packages, online streams, Redbox rentals and iTunes downloads. The price increase spurred complaints from thousands of Netflix customers on Facebook and other Web sites, some of whom said they may now rely less on physical DVDs and more on online options.

For Netflix, the adjustment is “the latest step in a long-term transition toward becoming a next-generation premium television business,” said Arash Amel, a research director for IHS Screen Digest, noting that the company has made streaming, not DVDs by mail, the core of its business.

Mr. Amel said further changes to Netflix’s monthly prices should be expected in the next couple of years as the company’s growth rate slows and as it pays hundreds of millions of dollars more to license streams of movies and TV shows.

Thanks in large part to its four-year-old streaming service, Netflix has more than 20 million customers in the United States. The company expects that as broadband speeds become faster and TV sets get connected to the Internet, it can become an even bigger player in streaming video.

But it has to manage the transition from DVDs to digital movies and shows carefully. Under the terms announced Tuesday, the streaming-only service will continue to cost $8 a month; a separate DVD-only service will also cost $8 a month for one DVD at a time or $12 a month for two.

For current Netflix customers, the price changes will take effect in September, but for new customers, they took effect Tuesday.

The new pricing is a big change from last November, when Netflix started selling its streaming service for $8 a month and offering one DVD at a time for an additional $2. At that time “we didn’t anticipate offering DVD-only plans,” Jessie Becker, vice president of marketing, wrote Tuesday in a blog post.

As Netflix knows well, the DVD business has been in decline for years as consumers have moved to the Web. But since November, Netflix has realized “there is still a very large continuing demand for DVDs both from our existing members as well as nonmembers,” Ms. Becker wrote. To keep the DVD service alive, the company evidently needs more than $2 a month.

“Netflix must be pretty comfortable with the value of both services that they can break each out,” said John Blackledge, an analyst at Credit Suisse Securities. “At the same time, increasing the price for DVD-and-streaming customers may push more people into streaming-only plans.”

Netflix also said Tuesday that Andy Rendich, its chief service and operations officer, would lead a new, separate management team in charge of the physical DVD service. That team will free other executives to think only about streaming.

IHS Screen Digest expects Netflix to serve up over a billion streams of movies and TV shows this year, almost double last year’s total; and perhaps more important for Netflix, it expects the costs of acquiring those movies and TV shows to double. It estimates that Netflix spent $400 million on licenses for streaming last year.

But what it is spending is not enough for movie aficionados who expect new releases right away and who are disappointed by the glaring absences in the company’s online library. Last month, in a reminder that Netflix is vulnerable to decisions made by Hollywood studios, more than 200 films from Sony Pictures were pulled from the streaming service because of what Netflix called a “temporary contract issue” with Starz, a partner of Sony. The issue has not yet been resolved.

Some Netflix streaming customers depend on the DVD-by-mail add-on because certain blockbuster movies are available much faster that way. If the customers move away from the DVD-by-mail service en masse, two potential beneficiaries are cable and satellite companies that rent movies on demand for a premium and vending machine operators like Redbox that charge lower prices for single DVD rentals.

Shelia Haupt, of Lehighton, Pa., was already considering dropping Netflix; after learning of the price increase, she said, “I’m definitely canceling.”

“Netflix’s streaming video selection is horrible,” Ms. Haupt said. “What I can get on demand from my cable company is so much better.”

She said she was pondering ordering HBO instead because it costs about the same as Netflix.

Some customers took the price changes in stride; Roger Ebert, the movie reviewer, told his followers on Twitter that he would opt for the streaming-only service for $8 a month.

Others reminded their friends of the bad old days of Blockbuster, as if to say, "Remember how far technology has come." Seth Werkheiser, an organizer of bike tours in New York City, wrote in a Twitter message, “Hey kids, remember when you had to put clothes on and drive to the video store?”

E-Mail . . .

Subject: Important Netflix Account Info: Price Change and New Plans

Dear Brownoholic and LOVELY Wife,

We are separating unlimited DVDs by mail and unlimited streaming into two separate plans to better reflect the costs of each. Now our members have a choice: a streaming only plan, a DVD only plan, or both.

Your current $9.99 a month membership for unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs will be split into 2 distinct plans:

Plan 1: Unlimited Streaming (no DVDs) for $7.99 a month
Plan 2: Unlimited DVDs, 1 out at-a-time (no streaming) for $7.99 a month

Your price for getting both of these plans will be $15.98 a month ($7.99 + $7.99). You don't need to do anything to continue your memberships for both unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs.

These prices will start for charges on or after September 1, 2011.

You can easily change or cancel your unlimited streaming plan, unlimited DVD plan, or both, by going to the Plan Change page in Your Account.

We realize you have many choices for home entertainment, and we thank you for your business. As always, if you have questions, please feel free to call us at 1-888-357-1516.

–The Netflix Team

Supply and Demand..?

They destroyed every other Supply, and now are Demanding more money....

We joined last October. During the winter months we were pretty much on top of watching the DVD the day we got it an mailed it out the next day. Two days later got the new DVD and repeated the process. Now it's nice out, took a trip to Erie, PA one weekend, Jamestown, NY the next and we have had the same DVD for nearly 3 weeks.

So when we got that e-mail yesterday I told my wife we should just cancel the DVD part and keep the streaming. I can get a new DVD from Redbox for $1. I'm not watching 8 DVD's a month right now so keeping the DVD service would be wasting money to me.

I think they're trying to get out of the physical media game altogether, but they can't just stop cold turkey. If this causes a substantial portion of their customer base to drop the DVD by mail but keep streaming, then they can justify phasing out physical media by saying that the customer has spoken.

Personally I don't care. I'll go streaming only and get the one or two movies I rent per month from iTunes or redbox at the Walgreens down the street.

I have a DVD that I have had at the house for 3 months now.

I think that I'll return it and cut my price to go with streaming only. lol

I just wish that Netfilx had everything available on streaming that they do on DVD.

That's the problem...we went to streaming only...and it's fine if you can find a movie you want to watch.

exactly. they have realized that their gross profit margin is much higher on the streaming and are trying to induce more people to go that route.

We're dropping the whole shebang. We're down to having one DVD and maybe not even having time to watch it that week OR the weekend even.

And it's a miracle for me to find something I really want to see on instant streaming. It's just convenient to find new things for the kids to watch.

I'm w/ you. If we actually have the time, we'll hit the Redbox. How close is that to being killed by Netflix? Wonder what they'll raise the rates to then . . .

I can usually find something to watch.

Heck, they just added Star Trek.

On the PS3 they dumbed down the Streaming App (not sure about other platforms). It used to have all sorts of categories and sub categories. But about 5 months ago they changed it and now it just recommends some categories based on what you have watched. So if my kids have watched a bunch of Family movies and I want to check the Sci-Fi section I have to go to my PC, browse the category to find a movie I want to watch, then go the the PS3 and do a search for that movie.

And I agree that they are trying to get out of the DVD model. That's why they also removed the Add to DVD Queue on all the mobile/streaming apps a while back as well.

The only thing I want to see is this:

If I have a streaming only plan, don't show me a bunch of DVD only selections when I search movies.

There's a way....I don't see DVD only selections when I browse. Now, if I search for a movie they only offer on DVD, then yes, it shows.

Availability of movies for streaming is based on the movie companies, not Netflix. Movie companies want to sell copies of DVDs and BluRays. I'm sure Netflix would stream it all if they could.

Personally I love Netflix for being able to plow through three or four seasons of a television series in a couple weeks if I want to.

Living out in the country, here in southeast Ohio, we have our internet through Verizon's aircard service (it's either that or dial-up and the costs are about equal). We have a 5GB per month allowance, so even streaming one movie would kill our monthly total. When I drop the streaming subscription from Netflix soon, we'll actually be saving money.

If you want to blame someone here, you cannot really blame Netflix. Blame the MPAA and film studios. The main reason for this "hike" (It's only a hike if you do both streaming and dvds by mail) is that a lot of Netflix's contracts with these studios with film rights are expiring and to sign a new contract, they are demanding more money after seeing how profitable Netflix has become.

Netflix has recently signed new deals with Paramount, Epix, Starz, Miramax, ABC/Disney, NBC, CBS, FOX, and others.

Unfortunately, the studios and broadcasters are now holding out for top dollar.

I"ll stick to Redbox outside my grocery store.. a buck a movie.. can't beat it.

Drug Mart in town is 1.79$ for two days for new releases, and .79 on Mondays

You don't pay postage with Netflix...

Even with the price hike, it's still a great option. 1 DVD unlimited and unlimited streaming.....we got our $10/month usage and thensome.

Plus, with all the people burning the DVD's, I'm sure the studio's were sick of NetFlix making it so easy build a huge digital library.

Funny, I JUST put my account on a 90-day hold today. No movies, no streaming and no billing. It's a great company that would let a customer do that. I'm sure I'll be back in October....by then my queue will be full of movies I want to see, right now....not so much.

So its something like a 62% price increase for the same plan, that's significant

I tried their trial out from my play station and saw what a total lack of decent movies they offered for download and cancelled them.

I'd rather pay $5 for a movie I want to watch than to pay $8 and watch whatever junk they put up there.

Yes, it's not small.....but I think the studio's took the same approach with them too. So, we pay or not. I still think it's a good deal, not great....good.

Deep Space Nine is coming September 1st.

I always seem to find something worth watching on the streaming side of things. I do wish that they would open up more of their movies to streaming, but I can spend $8 on their streaming plan, have Hulu Plus for $8, and still be way, way, way below what I would pay for cable. I can also rent movies direct from Amazon on Demand if I want. (In HD)

J/C...

Am I the only one around here who thoroughly enjoys going to an actual video store anymore? Around here we have "Family Video" and I love the place. Their are multiple locations around the Trumbull/Mahoning/Mercer county areas, the selection is good and I find the cost to be very reasonable. Yeah once in awhile you show up looking for a DVD and it's already rented out - big whoop, come back another day.

I'm lazy in a few aspects of my life, lol, but I find it much more enjoyable to actually go out and look for something than sit on my couch and push a button.

Yes, you're the only one.

I hope I never have to go into another video rental store again in my life.

Yeah I figured since there were about 30 posts on here before someone (me) actually commented on a physical store that I'd be fighting an uphill battle, lol.

And people complain about kids these days playing video games instead of actually going outside and doing something... wonder where they get their inspiration?

there are actual video stores still?

the last of the Hollywood Video's near me closed in 2010. The 3 Blockbusters that I know have have closed in the last few months.

I always did like having the video store for older movies since I use Redbox instead of Netflix.

Bring back VHS, baby!!!

I live in Streetsboro and I don't know of any video stores still open around me. Movie Gallery, Mammoth Video and Blockbuster all closed up shop. Video Stores just can't compete against Redbox and Netflix.

IMO Netflix just helped Redbox out because people like me that get rid of the DVD plan will use Redbox to rent new DVD's that instant streaming doesn't offer.

I still support the little guy down the street.

I give him my $2.99 for a disc, then give him $5.98 two days later when I return it late.



I have been renting tapes and CD's from him for maybe 25 years. I have to be customer teen something.



He's survived a Blockbuster a block down the road....which is about to close....so as long as he is there doing his thing, I'll be heading in on Tuesdays and Fridays to rent something from him.


We have Redboxes around, but you can't ask that box if it liked the movie or if I rented it 2 weeks ago.....yes, I've done that.

I didn't read all the replies, but this ticks me off.

I wouldn't mind so much if the online selection had more newer stuff on it, but most of the online stuff is TV series and older movies. Very few if any of the new releases are available for online play.

If they would do a system like making movies available online 2-3 months after the VD release it wouldn't be so bad. The only thing I use online viewing for now is Spartacus and Camelot series. Might as well cancel my soon to be $19.98 package and pay Comcast a few more bucks to just get the movie channels and use my DVR more.

Again, blame the movie companies, not Netflix.