I’ve actually been meaning to post quite a large number of things over the last month or so….but just really haven’t had much time…I know, I know…we always make time for the important things.
Anyhow, this week Netflix announced that they would be doing two things, each of which would effect my $15 (2 DVD / unlimited streaming plan):
1) Separate the two services (mail order DVDs, and streaming).
2) Increase the overall cost both services from $14.99 to $19.98 a month…a resulting change of ~30%
I’m not special, and all of their customers received similar emails…which has lead to quite a bit of overwhelming negative feedback. From thousands of disgruntled customers who believe that Netflix is evil or greedy….or something along those lines.
Truth be told, $15 a month for the service is an outstanding deal…there is a reason that Netflix single handed put Blockbuster out of business….it’s that the service offered a comprehensive compelling reason abandon the traditional video store. When Netflix first started sending DVDs in the mail; they charged their customer $6 per DVD (I think it was $4 for the rental and $2 for shipping). While there was a niche market for such things; it wasn’t super popular until the unlimited movie plans came into play.
Then as almost an after thought; they added streaming. Streaming was more of a novelty when it was first introduced, the catalog was extremely limited and the American public hadn’t proven that watching movies / tv shows on their computers was something that they were willing to do. So, Netflix went to work enticing the American clientele…solving the limitations of the streaming product. Through a series of deals with content license holders, new content would appear (and then disappear), but the overall content catalog got larger. Netflix made deals with electronics producers, such that devices that connected directly to TVs could steam Netflix content. The most compelling reason? All of this was made available at no additional cost.
Naturally, this could only go on for so long. It’s probably safe to think of all of this as Netflix Streaming Beta…now that it seems that it’s feature complete and ready for “prime time consumption”, which is fine…but the seedy underbelly is that by all of this; Netflix’s core DVD business is not as attractive as it used to be (and maybe all of this is part of Netflix’s master plan). I think that $8 for unlimited streaming isn’t evil…but $12 for 2 dvds at a time is not super compelling for the ~3.5 DVDs that I go through a month.
So what are my options (I’m not sure that increasing my DVD throughput is an option 
).
1) Pay 30% more per month…not a fan of this approach, but maybe its the best option?
2) Drop Netflix entirely
Kind of a fan of this one, as I’m a fan of voicing my displeasure with my dollars. The Hulu online platform for my xbox is similarly priced (although not as comprehensive).
3) Drop DVDs, pay $8 a month for streaming only; then use a combination of RedBox, Hollywood video, and Xbox video rental / purchasing for my DVD movie needs.
What shall I do? Not sure…further thought is requited. 
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