Lack of similar services means most Netflix customers sticking around

[DainBramaged]

It has been two weeks since Netflix announced, much to the chagrin of its loyal user base, that it would be hiking its monthly subscription prices by 60 percent for users who want both streaming and discs. How have things been going for the company since then? If you were to ask some parts of the Internet, Netflix is about to crash and burn. But according to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, there haven't been very many complaints.

Netflix announced earlier this month that it was splitting out its streaming and DVD plans and pricing them at $7.99 apiece per month—up from $9.99 per month for streaming and one DVD at a time. Assuming you want to keep both services (and not everyone does), that's $5.99 more per month for the same level of service, or $71.88 more per year. The company said it had decided to bump prices because there's still a large demand for DVDs, and splitting the services would make better financial sense for the company.

The immediate reaction was essentially split into two camps: those who shrugged and adjusted their account preferences as needed and those who raged out and swore they'd switch to something else. When I asked on Google+ about who was really switching, however, the large majority of the 70-plus respondents said that they weren't dropping Netflix.

"There isn't really any competition in this space. People talk up Redbox but it's not even in the same league," a user named Roy Watts commented.

http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2011/07/netflix-ceo-fewer-complaints-than-expected-over-price-hike.ars

:shrug: :shrug: :shrug:

[Betty88]

1. Well I will be going streaming only

I'm a little twisted about it but whats a girl to do, if need be I guess I can rent the odd video from Amazon.

[CreekDog]

2. i cancelled Netflix in part because of the price increase

but also because their streaming was so limited.

and because, coincidentally, Showtime's new program, The Franchise (about the Giants) was part of a movie package I could get for $15/month and all the on-demand that goes with that seems to surpass Netflix's watch instantly choices.

[KeepItReal]

3. Been a costumer 10+ years. Just downgraded my membership

To 1 DVD + streaming.

Was paying full price for 3 DVDs when I first joined.

Redbox is whupping their azz on new movies.

[Obamanaut]

4. By separating the streaming from the 3 at a time that we are using, we

are saving about $5/month. We are on dial up, and cannot use the streaming feature, even though it was part of the 'old' plan we had.

This is good for us. Not necessarily good for everyone.

[Speck Tater]

5. My DVD queue has grown steadily shorter while my stream queue grows.

I've been planning for over a year to switch to streaming only when my dvd queue is gone. Now that my queue is down to 12 or 15 it will only be another month or before I switch. In the meantime, it's no big deal, and still cheaper than the neighborhood rental stores used to be.

[cyberswede]

6. The price doesn't change till September

It's possible some subscribers are waiting until the change actually takes effect to drop one or the other (or both).

We haven't decided if we'll keep the DVD by mail part of the service or not.

[truebrit71]

9. That is when I intend to either dump them entirely, or just go streaming...

I thoroughly disagree with their cavalier attitude towards the customer...

[PoiBoy]

7. We'll be dropping the DVD option at the end of August...

...right before the increase.... keeping the streaming only option until something better comes along...

We'll get our DVD's from redbox...


:hi:

[DainBramaged]

8. I like the DVD side, except for the intense copy guard on Sony discs

I like the fact I can create a backup copy for my library.




:evilgrin: