This right here has people pissed. Netflix is splitting the DVD and streaming plans. It's a sad day in Toon Town folks. At first I was pissed. Netflix is supposed to over salvation from the price gouging that's common with cable carriers. My one DVD plan is going up 60 percent, unless I pick which part of their service I like most.
They gave an explanation on their blog, but I've had enough experience as the "face" of big corporations to know when someone is feeding me bullshit. The truth, which isn't even mentioned in the blog, is that licensing costs are going up ten-fold. They simply can't afford to keep their same pricing structure. I understand that, but Netflix isn't essential enough to my life for me to easily swallow a sixty percent price increase.
What I also find slightly insulting is how they presented this as if it were something done to help me, the consumer. Personally, the DVD option was a supplement to the stale instant streaming selection. I had no problem watching 25 year old episodes of Family Ties while I waited for my sorta new release DVD to arrive. Now, you're taking that away unless I'm willing to pay double.
Let's say that I was willing to pay another 8 bucks for one DVD. Netflix still has that waiting period on new movies. Three weeks is a bit excessive don't you think? Remember "the dollar movie theater?" They were usually crappy theaters where your feet stuck to the floor, the popcorn was stale and the sound system sucked, but it was a dollar. I loved the dollar movie, because I could wait for those "meh" movies to arrive instead of paying full price when they were first released. Redbox is the DVD equivalent of the dollar theater.
Like Netflix, Redbox has to wait three weeks for good movies, but they're only a dollar. Netflix wants eight times that amount for the same quality. The claim is that you get unlimited movies, but so often I put a movie at number one in my queue only to get the second or third selection. By the time I finally get what I really want, a few days have passed. I've never gotten my number one choice eight times in a month. Redbox wins in this case. I can reserve the movie online, and pick it up at the grocery store. If it's not at that kiosk, then I can check the 7-11, McDonalds, Wal-mart or any of the other 10 kiosks within a one mile radius of my house.
I didn't plan to give this topic so much attention, but I guess more of me was pissed about the price increase than logic could pacify. I'm canceling my plan. Period. I'll keep checking instantwatcher to see when they get a large number of "new" movies to stream and maybe two or three months from now I'll sign up for a month, watch what I want and then cancel. Wait three months and repeat.
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