Link Netflix will wait 28 days before offering new releases in exchange for a larger movie selection in instant watch.
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.
I agree with RoJo. 28 Days Later is not a problem for me. If I waited 4-5 months during its theatrical run, which I do on alot of films(ie comedies) then another 28 days to see it is nothing.
Plus, I've been using the Instant Streaming on my PS3 a lot lately, so I would gladly take more of that in exchange for a longer wait for DVDs.
This. I don't rent a lot of new releases anyway, but I do like the streaming service. Sounds like a great trade-off to me.
Not something that will make me cancel Netflix, but I expect a lot of backlash from customers and for Blockbuster to capitalize on it.
I can easily wait 28 days. I only order a DVD through the mail every so many months, because many of my favorites are on Netflix streaming. I only have 4 movies in my DVD queue, but have about 300 movies in my streaming queue that I can watch anytime I want. Sounds like a good deal to me.
The brick and morters are hoping this will help them out. A similar deal is supposed to happen with Red Box. Other studios will be doing this too. Heard about a few months ago when I worked in video retail.
I've got over 300 discs in my queue, and I constantly find stuff to watch on streaming. That's all outside the regular TV I watch, so I won't be affected at all by this. I think it's a win-win if you don't mind the 28 days since increasing their streaming content makes one's membership that much more worth it.
I put movies in the queue when they're in theaters and forget about them. Six months later, they show up in my rental column. If it's seven months, I doubt I'll notice. My queue is currently 252 titles. It fluctuates but hasn't gone much below 200. If it's perpetually at that level, why would I care when anything arrives? I'll probably DIE with 200 freaking DVDs unwatched. What a depressing thought. Oh no, here's a worse thought. Whenever I die, even if it's 50 years from now, what if there's a Star Trek movie due out in a year or two? What if there's a Star Trek series and I'll miss the end. Now I can't die!
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.
I wish I had the money to say, "Oh, I have to wait another month to see the movie? Forget that, I'll just buy the DVD." Seeing as how I don't, if I still used Netflix, I'd just wait the 28 days and rent the movie then.
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.
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.
For some reason that older generation doesn't seem like they would even be aware of release dates. My parents sure aren't.
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...