Netflix and Warner Brothers Reach Deal

[Temis the Vorta]

Harvey wrote:

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Sure, Temis, but you rent all kinds of films and regularly keep your queue stocked. You are a much different rental user than, say, someone of my parents' generation. And I think there definitely will be a backlash from those kinds of customers.

Maybe Netflix will lose some of their customers to Blockbuster or whoever focuses more on making big Hollywood movies available quickly to people who don't also care about old movies, foreign movies, TV series and documentaries (watching all that stuff is what keeps the queue full). That's okay; Netflix is probably getting too big and monopolistic anyway. Here in SF, practically all the video rental stores are gone - driven out of business.

[Mr. Adventure]

The 28 days thing doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me. You wait months for a DVD to come out based on some arbitrary date anyway so as long as you don't let yourself get bothered by it being in stores it really isn't any different.

Sure ideally you could get it day of release but it seems like a tolerable compromise. I've been renting a lot lately because I have a massive DVD collection that I rarely dip into and I started to see what a money hole it was. Not to mention taking up space.

[RoJoHen]

Harvey wrote:

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Sure, Temis, but you rent all kinds of films and regularly keep your queue stocked. You are a much different rental user than, say, someone of my parents' generation. And I think there definitely will be a backlash from those kinds of customers.

For some reason that older generation doesn't seem like they would even be aware of release dates. My parents sure aren't.

[Peach Wookiee]

My parents are...

[RoJoHen]

My mom spends her life watching re-runs of "Bones" and "Law & Order" on TNT. Frankly, if it's not on TNT, she probably isn't even aware of it.

She's also has no idea how to work a DVD player...

[Sheep]

Harvey wrote:

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Sure, Temis, but you rent all kinds of films and regularly keep your queue stocked. You are a much different rental user than, say, someone of my parents' generation. And I think there definitely will be a backlash from those kinds of customers.

The average person doesn't have the slightest clue when DVD/BD release dates are unless they see it on TV, in which case it's in their memory for oh, another 2 minutes tops unless it's a movie/show they're interested in.

I'd be willing to bet a large sum of money that if you that if you asked 100 random people about the DVD release date for a popular recent movie, 90 of them or more would not know the answer. This 28 day delay simply isn't going to matter for the vast majority of people.

[RoJoHen]

Sheep wrote:

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I'd be willing to bet a large sum of money that if you that if you asked 100 random people about the DVD release date for a popular recent movie, 90 of them or more would not know the answer. This 28 day delay simply isn't going to matter for the vast majority of people.

Indeed.

I bet most people are aware of new releases only because they go to a store and see the "New Releases" shelf.

[Smiley]

How many movies fall into the category of being not good enough for movie theater prices but interesting enough to become must-watches on the first day of DVD/Blu-ray release? My guess is that this number is very small.

Also, is it possible that some of these new releases will be available as streaming video on the release date? That would mitigate any backlash from this decision.

[Professor Zoom]

I say it's a win-win-win, for the company, for the WB and for the users.

I love the fact they are expanding more movies on the Watch Now feature...and I have a feeling that the direction Netflix is really heading anyway...

So, awesome, Netflix!

[Captain Craig]

Seems based on this thread Netflix made the right call.
Even if someone had a Netflix membership and decided "I just have to see 'x' now" they might go to Blockbuster and drop $4 on the new release how often? Once? Maybe twice a year, by then they've spent the cost of a monthly membership to Netflix and only seen two movies.
It really is logical and an easy compromise to wait another 28 days. I'll not even notice it and apparently neither will any of us based on our comments here.

[barnaclelapse]

Harvey wrote:

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Sounds like a good deal for Netflix, and a good deal for Warner Bros. But this doesn't sound like a good deal for Netflix users. Having to wait a whole month before being able to rent 'new' releases? Well, Blockbuster could always use the extra business.

Agreed. I'm not sure how I the Netflix consumer will benefit from this at all.

[Professor Zoom]

barnaclelapse wrote:

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Agreed. I'm not sure how I the Netflix consumer will benefit from this at all.

You benefit from having more choices from Warner Brother owned movies in the Watch Now feature. A lot more movies.

[RoJoHen]

barnaclelapse wrote:

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Agreed. I'm not sure how I the Netflix consumer will benefit from this at all.

You benefit from the increased Instant Streaming library.

Now, if you don't really use that feature, you're not benefiting much at all, but that's not really Netflix's problem.

[Starbreaker]

The article says it costs a nickel to stream a movie. That could end up being thousands of titles.

[Harvey]

Sheep wrote:

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The average person doesn't have the slightest clue when DVD/BD release dates are unless they see it on TV, in which case it's in their memory for oh, another 2 minutes tops unless it's a movie/show they're interested in.

I'd be willing to bet a large sum of money that if you that if you asked 100 random people about the DVD release date for a popular recent movie, 90 of them or more would not know the answer. This 28 day delay simply isn't going to matter for the vast majority of people.

Here's how it works. You see a title for sale in the store, and think to yourself, I want to rent that. Then you try and rent it and Netflix says it is not available. Repeat experience often enough and you're going to lose customers. Of course, it's only one studio, and the instant streaming library is a nice off-set.