Netflix is spinning off its DVD business into a new company

that seems to be the message to me, but the move still doesn't make sense. would it have been that difficult to sell the DVD business without doing the split ahead of time? Of course not - corporate subsidiaries are sold all the time. Let the new owner worry about potential customer deflection as a result of the decoupling. Instead, they go ahead and decouple themselves, piss off a lot of customers with a price change, further piss off customers with a strange rebranding and move to 2 different companies, and imo decrease the value of each. The whole (which they've killed off) seemed greater than the sum of the parts.

I am no expert on the industry, but it seems netflix's best move would have been to sell the whole thing to someone like Google. problem being they are trading at less than half their 52 week high and shareholders are probably not too keen on a sale in today's market.

 

If this is a move to lighten the licensing fee load on the streaming side by dividing the DVD'ers out of the equation then I can see the logic, but I have to say as a customer their service gets less and less appealing with each move the "genius" makes.

60% price jump? Check. Decline in services? Check. Restrictions on usage? Check.
8 billion in lost "wealth" from stock losses since this PR debacle? Check.

Sometimes "smart" business decisions are anything but that. We will see. Right now it looks like a complete nosedive, but if that's what it takes for them to exist, then that's what it takes. Sometimes the tough decisions are the good ones, but right now as a customer I don't like the direction things are moving in. Had they bolstered their streaming library first this wouldn't have been such a shock to everyone's system, but anyone who's browsed that library after being a DVD customer knows how lacking it is. Perhaps that will change in the near future, but that would only make the timing of this sillier, in my eyes.

 

At least Hulu has current TV Shows
[i.e. burn notice is i think at most a week behind
where with Net Flix i'd have to wait for the Season to end]

I think the biggest part of NetFlix and streaming
will be . . . things like. . HBO GO
Why will HBO give Netflix a d*mn thing when they could
drive customers to HBO GO
If successful . . .look for STARS/SHOWTIME/ETC to follow suit

I can envision a world where you change websites like you change channels
I think we maybe seeing the end of the ONE STOP shopping model
of streaming

Rocket River
my humble opinion

 

So what are the options for deaf consumers? I cannot watch streaming movies or tv shows if they do not have subtitles. My only option is to rent DVDs because I do not want to buy DVDs.

 

Pardon my ignorance, but I thought that Netflix streaming had subs if they were available? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

It's already here with TVs with 'widgets' and Boxee. Issue is that there isn't an internet broadcast standard so someone has to shoehorn those different streaming sites into a usable interface like Boxee. Otherwise it's too complicated for the common user. People love simplicity (sheeple).

 

They do but they're foreign movies. I have not seen any streaming American movies with subtitles on Netflix. I haven't checked it in a while. I should go and check it out to see if they added more streaming movies with subtitles.

 

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/netflix

:grin:

 

The Oatmeal is one of my favorite sites. Thanks. :grin:

 

While this will eventually be true, there has to be a better transitional phase or strategy. Why couldn't they wait until their streaming library was a bit more robust, or at least double before they decided to split DVD. Did they really need to re-brand their physical disc service? Etc. And DVD will not/did not fail, it's just being phased out like everything else before it (VHS, Beta, etc).

 

I agree, but how much do you think each channel/site would charge?

 

Edit, I should say, how much do you think each will charge when the ONE STOP providers like hulu/netflix charge around $10

 

I would guess that they are signing up a lot of TV manufacturers directly, and don't want to mix profits etc.

And their packaged goods bit will generate a lot from their gamefly competition, I have a very good friend who is at NetFlix working on this as we speak, I almost went to work for them, but did not want to move to Cali.....

I think GameFly is vulnerable...

DD

 

I think it will be rolled up into your cable bill.
Or. . . you will pay for the APP

Places like TNT, USA, etc . .
I suspect would rather you run to their site
and then use the AdSence revenue [ads on the site ]

HBO, Showtime, etc maybe roll it into your Cable bill or something
Not sure how it will shake out.

Rocket River

 

If this move is anything remotely close to beneficial to the future or "smart" as some think, NFLX stock wouldn't be absolutely plummeting with the smart money selling the crap out of it.

 

most investors don't really know what they're doing anyways.

 

Correct. However, "investors" aren't what drove it down $170 bucks the past 2 months.

 

From a business stand point, I get the strategy...delivery sucked and I think they'll be continued lack of confidence in what they're doing...

 

River,

The problem with that model is that it would require the TV to be able to go to different websites etc.....or as you correctly pointed out, channels.

Right now, the technology is just beginning to be embedded in DVD players, TVs, etc..etc..etc....and until they start to look like your IPhone with tons of APPS on them, they will need one central source to view stuff or search through.

People would rather go to one spot and view a large catalogue of "Like" shows than have to search all over for a show at different spots.

So, maybe Netflix will transition to a TV search engine.....????

DD

 

I watched Let Me In last night and it had an option for subs....I didn't toggle it on to check, but it was there. English movie. (great movie too)

That's exactly what this is. That and paving the way for an eventual sale of the DVD side (IMO).

 

They don't. Also when Comcast went to Exfinity they changed the interface where you actually have to power down the cable box and go into the systems set up to turn the captions on or off. I switched to Uverse only to find the CC option takes 9 steps to change.

Somebody ought to file a ADA complaint.

(as a geezer I need CC's for female dialog only, the range I'deaf in)