Netflix Hits Abort Button on Qwikster DVD Service Split

[JMcEntegart]

Netflix has decided to keep its DVD and Streaming services together under the same URL.

Netflix Hits Abort Button on Qwikster DVD Service Split : Read more

 

[Hellbound]

It was a dumb idea to begin with..

 

[burnley14]

They made the right choice here eventually, but you would think they would have preferred to test the idea out before announcing it and facing the wrath of millions of angry customers. Ask a couple pilot test groups their opinion before you make a multi-million dollar blunder Netflix.

 

[Guest]

Netflix spokesperson Steve Swasey said that that the company underestimated the appeal of one website and one service.

"We underestimated the appeal of the single Web site and a single service," Swasey said in a telephone interview. "We greatly underestimated it," he added.

How is it possible to *NOT* assume this to be true? You could go to any elementary schoolyard and ask children, "hey, if you pay me money to watch movies on the computer, and movies on a DVD, would you want to go to two different stores or just one?"

 

[house70]

The whole purpose of that move was the new pricing scheme... since it was supposed to be 2 separate services, one was supposed to pay each service it's fee.
Now, the new pricing scheme is kinda left alone in the spotlight... and not a good spotlight. It amounts to a huge price jacking for same service (one DVD plus streaming). They're running on very thin ice. If their CEO gets a bonus this year, I'm cancelling my Netflix altogether.

 

[deadlockedworld]

[citation][nom]house70[/nom]The whole purpose of that move was the new pricing scheme... since it was supposed to be 2 separate services, one was supposed to pay each service it's fee. Now, the new pricing scheme is kinda left alone in the spotlight... and not a good spotlight. It amounts to a huge price jacking for same service (one DVD plus streaming). They're running on very thin ice. If their CEO gets a bonus this year, I'm cancelling my Netflix altogether.[/citation]

Yea but what would you go to? Hulu Plus blows -- it doesn't have all the older TV content that I love, and comcast ... will just use their access monopoly to charge you your firstborn child.

 

[cmartin011]

doh!

 

[CaedenV]

They just need to stay in business long enough for me to finish watching Star Trek TNG, 3rd Rock, and Stargate SG1. Just hang in there till Jan or Feb and I'll be ready to move on to something else, because I have seen just about everything good there is to watch on Netflix, and I am not expecting any new content any time soon...

 

[Luscious]

IMO Reed Hastings is a seriously sick prick. First, the company jacks up prices to the point that even long-time members decide it's too expensive and leave. Then he sends out a massive email explaining his "changes" to Netflix members just weeks earlier. Now realizing that the split will pretty-much piss off those few die-hard members still left and risk total bankruptcy they decide to not separate the business.

Did this guy get his MBA from a Rice Crispies box? I'm curious because he obviously doesn't have the faintest idea of how to run a company, deliver a service, or listen to his customers. The bad PR definitely isn't helping, and I can only wonder how much more the investors holding the business up will tolerate.

This guy SHOULD NOT be in the CEO chair - he needs to be playing with toy trains. Investors aren't stupid. If I had even a dollar in Netflix stock I would be demanding this guys ass be served on a platter.

 

[eddieroolz]

Anyone need more proof that Netflix has lost sight of itself?

 

[mm0ety]

[citation][nom]Luscious[/nom]IMO Reed Hastings is a seriously sick prick. First, the company jacks up prices to the point that even long-time members decide it's too expensive and leave. Then he sends out a massive email explaining his "changes" to Netflix members just weeks earlier. Now realizing that the split will pretty-much piss off those few die-hard members still left and risk total bankruptcy they decide to not separate the business.Did this guy get his MBA from a Rice Crispies box? I'm curious because he obviously doesn't have the faintest idea of how to run a company, deliver a service, or listen to his customers. The bad PR definitely isn't helping, and I can only wonder how much more the investors holding the business up will tolerate.This guy SHOULD NOT be in the CEO chair - he needs to be playing with toy trains. Investors aren't stupid. If I had even a dollar in Netflix stock I would be demanding this guys ass be served on a platter.[/citation]
Yeah says the guy who hasn't accomplished half as much. They are trying to make improvements. Improvements never come without mistakes.

 

[belardo]

Netflix... still not as stupid as HP.
Aborting Qwixkster was the smartest thing they have done all year.

I think it was still stupid to split their business into two $8 packages. I would have changed the business to the $10 download service with user opt-in single DVD rental.

The Streaming is still sub-standard to BluRay... and the bandwidth can be a killer to some people.

 

[distanted]

[citation][nom]deadlockedworld[/nom]Yea but what would you go to? Hulu Plus blows -- it doesn't have all the older TV content that I love, and comcast ... will just use their access monopoly to charge you your firstborn child.[/citation]
I expect some of the other companies are seeing the blood in the water and may make a big push to become a Netflix alternative in the coming months. Old TV shows is about the only thing Netflix is good for, lately, and how hard would it be for Amazon or some other company to secure the rights to stream The Andy Griffith Show and others? Between losing key content and mishandling the price hike with one poorly thought out message after another, Netflix really is running the risk of becoming as un-hip as Myspace became.

 

[cadder]

They're clueless. People aren't rebelling against the split/new name, they're rebelling against the nearly 100% price increase.

 

[distanted]

[citation][nom]mm0ety[/nom]Yeah says the guy who hasn't accomplished half as much. They are trying to make improvements. Improvements never come without mistakes.[/citation]
That's the problem: they're not improving. Their movie library has lost many of the big suppliers, so they fill it with low budget movies that look like student productions. It may not be their fault the studios are demanding more money for their inventory, but announcing a price hike like the way they did when most of the country is getting over one recession and about to start a second one seemed like they were thumbing their noses at their customers. If they had merely said "Look, the studios want more for the big movies you guys want to watch, so we're going to charge you more and spend the profits on improving streaming feeds and building a decent library...", they probably would have gotten more support than saying "Hey, here's an idea: we're going to charge you two fees instead of one...and later, we're going to split those two services so that you'll have two different accounts and two different web sites to keep track of."

 

[jn77]

Who really cars about netflix, part of the reason people are in all the trouble they are is all these useless monthly services... $9.99 net flix.... $79-$`199 for cable or dish.., Overpriced cell phone service.....

 

[legacy7955]

Why is this smarmy scum bag CEO, Hastings not fired yet? Oh that's right it's all about WHO you know, not about how qualified you are for the job. This is the RULE among the elite not the exception.

 

[otimus]

Listen, people, I'm getting real sick and tired of people like, blindly attacking Netflix for this and that.

FACT of the matter is, they've been kind of pinned into a corner by content providers.

They didn't just like... slightly hike up the prices.

They pretty much, in some cases, were demanding a 1000% increase in what Netflix has to pay them.

The content holders are just flat out going to kill streaming video. It's NOT netflix's fault.

 

[spectrewind]

[citation][nom]mm0ety[/nom]Yeah says the guy who hasn't accomplished half as much. They are trying to make improvements. Improvements never come without mistakes.[/citation]

That's why you have a test case to validate a proposed solution prior to roll-out across the business. Test a change to the business plan that would isolate mistakes to a small area that do that threaten the business as a whole and cause a stock price crash. Once they verify that it works for them, roll it out company-wide. They genuinely failed to do this first. That's on them.

Not sure exactly how they would do that under their current business model, although that's for them to figure out.

 

[alidan]

will they still begetting games though?