Netflix shoots itself in the foot... aka no more free streaming

Discussion in 'TV & Media' started by bigdaddy, Jul 12, 2011.

  1. Professor Zoom

    Professor Zoom Admiral Admiral

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    Not necessarily. Your opinion isn't fact.
     
  2. doubleohfive

    doubleohfive Fleet Admiral

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  3. doubleohfive

    doubleohfive Fleet Admiral

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    Saw this on CNN.com:

    :lol:
     
  4. Kail

    Kail Commodore Commodore

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    Netflix was #1, putting everybody else out of business. The company must be run by idiots, they are ruining all the good will they had built up. They look like they do not know what they are doing any more.
     
  5. T'Bonz

    T'Bonz Romulan Curmudgeon Administrator

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    No, their stockholders.

    If they were listening to their customers, their price increase might have been 25%, not 60%.

    So they have "one company" for both DVDs and streaming. BFD. Does nothing for me. 60% price increase meant I had to change my plan. Either pay more for the same product, or else adjust my plan (getting less product) for the same price (which is the same as paying more...)

    No win for the customer. None whatsoever. So those of you keeping both streaming and DVD don't have to log into two different sites. Whoop de fucking doo.
     
  6. Amaris

    Amaris Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Which may simply be a diversionary tactic anyway. Appease someone over a non-existent plot of land, and you win more square acreage while making the customer think you're listening to them and giving ground.

    Netflix: "We're raising prices and eating babies!"
    Customer: "What?! That's wrong!"
    Netflix: "You're right. Eating babies is wrong. We won't eat any babies, and after this, no more price increases! See? We listen!"
     
  7. Captain Craig

    Captain Craig Vice Admiral Admiral

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    That's what I meant. I didn't proof read my comment. I see the confusion. I meant the email confirms the split isn't happening.
    My bad.
     
  8. Brolan

    Brolan Commodore Commodore

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    QFT.
     
  9. Snaploud

    Snaploud Admiral Admiral

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    So, they had a p.r. disaster. Big deal. It's not worth the loss of half their stock value. The company's business is still solid. Investors will come back.
     
  10. Professor Zoom

    Professor Zoom Admiral Admiral

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    As someone who did sell the stock, I would say there are SOME of those things DO effect the value of the company. Because of the handling of the rise in prices, MORE customers left than they had thought, some turning to other services. AND now that they are losing STARZ, that's a sizable chunk of content.

    And the guy that's in charge... he's driving the car very poorly. I think investors will come back... slowly... but the mistakes this year aren't something to just ignore.
     
  11. Snaploud

    Snaploud Admiral Admiral

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    Don't get me wrong. I would have sold my stock just like everybody else. Investor panic shouldn't be ignored. I just think now is probably a good time to buy back in.
     
  12. Professor Zoom

    Professor Zoom Admiral Admiral

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    Perhaps. I've thought about it.

    However, ANOTHER interpretation: Netflix's stock was overvalued at it's high of close to 300.
     
  13. Temis the Vorta

    Temis the Vorta Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Vdio, possible Netflix competitor?

    I don't see why Vdio would be able to avoid Netflix's dilemma: that the content producers realize that cheap streaming undermines their business model, and that they are facing the same apocalypse that has already hit the music business - that the value of content inexorably sinks towards zero when it becomes digital - and will fight like holy hell to stave off the inevitable.

    Content producers currently are very powerful and will remain so for the time being. Netflix is relatively weak, and Vdio certainly has no potential that I can see to have more clout. In the long run, the content producers will lose this contest, but they aren't close to losing yet.
     
  14. David cgc

    David cgc Admiral Premium Member

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    It could be something similar to Amazon's MP3 store being given a sweetheart deal by the music companies (lower prices, no DRM) to help break Apple's popularity with the iTunes Music Store and reduce their negotiating power. Netflix doesn't have quite as solid a bargaining position as Apple did, but it's still the king of movie rentals, and the way things are (well, were) going, its popularity with customers and, thus, influence over the studios can only go up.

    (On the other hand, that apparently wasn't very effective against Apple. While they did ultimately cave on variable pricing, they got universal DRM-free tracks for their trouble).
     
  15. Amaris

    Amaris Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    The note posted on Amazon.com's front page this morning:


    Looks like somebody's upping the game just a bit. I mean, sure, they're a long way off from taking Netflix down, but this is just a sign of what Netflix stands to lose if they can't hold it together as the race really begins.
     
  16. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    :wtf: Y'know, this makes a LOT of sense - never looked at it from that angle, but it definitely makes serious sense. It effectively misdirects almost everyone's attention away from the price gouge. This may have been their plan all along.

    A shame, really. They were a breakthrough small company that built and grew through real innovation. Now, in the past couple of years, it seems like all the folks that originally created it have cashed out and moved on, and all that's left are the kids running the candy store.
     
  17. Temis the Vorta

    Temis the Vorta Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    The value to me of Netflix is the ability to get pretty much anything that's been released on DVD (that I've heard of anyway). I'm not interested in signing up for a Chinese menu of competing services, each with a different lineup. Life is complicated enough.

    If it was all a diversionary tactic, it was the stupidest one in the history of diversionary tactics. :rommie:

    Nah, it was plain ole incompetence, a massive PR blunder. Netlfix has a problem - content providers are not going along with their game plan to move their business from DVDs in the mail to streaming, and Netflix doesn't have nearly the power to strongarm them. They should have let their customers understand that they, Netflix, is not at fault in this situation.

    They could have diverted customer ire towards the studios by pretending to go along with Starz' arrogant insistence that its Sony and Disney titles be priced at a premium. Customers will never accept this, of course. When you walk into a movie theater, do you expect to pay more for a movie produced by Sony than by Universal or Paramount?

    Nobody pays attention to what studio produces anything. Studios can't insist on premium pricing for products that the consumer does not regard as premium or even different from competitors. (This strategy might possibly work for Disney, which is unusual among studios in having a unique image.)

    But Netflix could have played along and priced Sony and Disney at a premium, making damn sure that customers understood that it was coming from the studios, not from them. And then watch in glee as everyone deletes Sony and Disney movies from their queues. That would undermine the studios' delusional contention that they have the ability to price their products at a premium, which strengthens Netflix' hand.
     
  18. Professor Zoom

    Professor Zoom Admiral Admiral

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    The biggest problem that Amazon faces... they don't have the content. I looked further... ONLY the first season of Arrested Development? Lots of First seasons of things... but, not complete...

    They are a long way from securing enough content to compete.
     
  19. bigdaddy

    bigdaddy Vice Admiral Admiral

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  20. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    So I guess the bottom line here is that Netflix got greedy. Most people joined up for the DVD-by-mail service, and Netflix has been using the profits from that to build up their streaming service. But now, they've pissed off so many customers on both services, they're going to take a loss.

    I wonder what was so bad about the DVD service that they opted not to focus on that? It may have more infrastructure requirements (warehouses, shipping, etc.) but at least the costs are predictable. Streaming is going to kill them. The licensing fees they will end up paying are going to wring the life out of the company. It's already happening and will only get worse.

    A shame, too, because I like Netflix. They have just made a total clusterfuck of this year. :(