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Post by pablo on Aug 4, 2011 20:49:03 GMT -5
^thank you sky
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Post by TheNewMads on Aug 17, 2011 13:31:09 GMT -5
it's a good thing he stepped in, i was going to say it stood for "bondage and domination."
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Post by Phantom Engineer on Sept 17, 2011 9:19:24 GMT -5
I just saw that Netflix has lost 500,000 customers since the change. It doesn't seem to be too popular.
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Post by Skyroniter on Sept 17, 2011 11:25:31 GMT -5
I saw something along those lines too. Plus they are having difficulties negotiating distribution rigths with providers.
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Post by pablo on Sept 17, 2011 18:57:08 GMT -5
still have netflix but am experimenting with a subscription to Green Cine. they have all the customer interaction that netflix squashed not too long ago and I picked Treasures from American Film Archives, Vol. 4: Avant Garde which netflix has listed as 'unknown' under availability.
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Post by Skyroniter on Sept 17, 2011 20:23:47 GMT -5
still have netflix but am experimenting with a subscription to Green Cine. they have all the customer interaction that netflix squashed not too long ago and I picked Treasures from American Film Archives, Vol. 4: Avant Garde which netflix has listed as 'unknown' under availability. I'd like to know how that goes for you.
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Post by georgeworge on Sept 17, 2011 21:48:00 GMT -5
Just dropped my netflix today too dang much $$$$$
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Post by Skyroniter on Sept 19, 2011 20:47:24 GMT -5
A personal note sent to me by Lord Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO of Netflix:
Dear Gary,
I messed up. I owe you an explanation.
It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing.
For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn't make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us). So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices. It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.
So here is what we are doing and why.
Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD. DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies.
I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service.
So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently.
It’s hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming.
Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.
There are no pricing changes (we’re done with that!). If you subscribe to both services you will have two entries on your credit card statement, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as your current charges. We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready.
For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that lovely red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo. I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard. I imagine it will be similar for many of you.
I want to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.
Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions.
Respectfully yours,
-Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix
p.s. I have a slightly longer explanation along with a video posted on our blog, where you can also post comments.
I made up the "Lord" part. Thought it sounded good with his name.
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Post by Phantom Engineer on Sept 20, 2011 16:01:30 GMT -5
Wow, he took the time to apologize to you personally. You must be really important.
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Post by Mitchell on Sept 21, 2011 19:24:55 GMT -5
Because of this, I'm cancelling my Netflix and Qwikster subscriptions. This obviously half baked plan doesn't have much in it for the customers, and Netflix's streaming choices continue to be almost nothing but bargain bin garbage Rick Sloane would find atrocious. First the price hike, then the asinine apology, and less for my money through the division.
Goodbye.
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Post by Skyroniter on Sept 22, 2011 17:27:49 GMT -5
Wow, he took the time to apologize to you personally. You must be really important. I am VERY impotent.
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Post by pinkfully on Sept 23, 2011 5:26:25 GMT -5
I've had Netflix since December, and pay $7.99 for just the streaming. It's been fine, and they do have some of the MST3K shows available. No Rifftrax, though. A while back Mike was asking Netflix subscribers to rate the MST3K shows high when we watch them because they were trying to get Netflix to add Rifftrax to their list. I always rate them the highest, anyway.
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Post by Mitchell on Sept 23, 2011 5:50:54 GMT -5
Amazon streams MST3K as well. A prime membership is $6.66 a month, plus the other Prime benefits.
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Post by Father Mannix on Sept 23, 2011 9:55:09 GMT -5
How is the rest of their streaming selection? I'm actually fine with Netflix, but if Amazon's streaming was comparable and included Prime's other benefits, I'd consider switching.
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Post by Skyroniter on Sept 23, 2011 11:15:36 GMT -5
How is the rest of their streaming selection? I'm actually fine with Netflix, but if Amazon's streaming was comparable and included Prime's other benefits, I'd consider switching. I'd like to know this also.
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