Since everyone and their damned mother is complaining about the separation of Netflix streaming and DVD packages, I figure I might as well put in my two cents…
I’m not going to be complaining about the pricing move. I think its incredibly fair and reasonable because $10 was a bit low for such a wonderful service. The split in price also reflects the differences between streaming and DVD selection (along with the different customers who use them).
Take, for instance, me: I watch primarily TV shows on Netflix. Rarely do I have the attention span for a movie. Since Netflix many, many TV shows available on stream, I pay $8 per month for unlimited streaming and that’s it.
Now, take my dad: he watches primarily movies. There aren’t many movies available on Netflix streaming because of the absurdly high cost of licensing for internet broadcast (and the “associated liabilities” of piracy involved for the distributors), so the $8 per month unlimited DVD package would be perfect for him.
Even if you’re a fan of TV shows and a fan of movies, getting the $16 unlimited streaming and DVDs-by-mail package, you’re getting a wonderful deal. Let’s compare this to a more conventional situation, shall we? You can probably manage to watch 7 to 10 DVDs a month. That’s $7 per DVD at a rental place similar to Blockbuster. Which comes to between $49 and $70 per month. Anyone see a problem here? You could also go and purchase these DVDs for around $15 which is between $105 and $150 per month…
Do the math. And stop yer bitchin’. Or cancel your Netflix account if you don’t like it. Boycott is a form of protest and will not be taken lightly by Netflix.
