ARTICLE: How Netflix lost its soul

To say I was disappointed when I heard news of what Netflix was intending to do with their pricing would be a grave understatement.  I was on the verge of anger issues that haven’t been seen since God flooded the earth and killed all of us heathens in one fell swoop.

Okay, that may be hyperbole, but the fact of the matter is I’m still pretty peeved.  So, if you haven’t heard, Netflix is essentially raising their prices to double their bank accounts each month.  They’ve decided to split their streaming service and their DVD/Blu-ray service into two different paying accounts.  Beginning September 1^st, Netflix will charge $7.99 a month for their streaming service and $7.99 a month for just 1 DVD rental at a time (with a $2 additional charge for Blu-ray).

So, what was once a great service is now, in my opinion, a pretty mediocre service.  Now that Netflix has successfully killed off all competition (and let’s be honest, they really had no competition) they can now freely become what we all disliked about Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, et al.  They are no longer the little underdog trying to make it in the big world.  Now Netflix is the ‘big business’.  They have complete control over the business model and the pricing.

The whole reason of going to Netflix was because they offered a service at a reasonable price that couldn’t be touched.  They have great turnaround times on shipments.  They have great customer service and you didn’t have to deal with the pimply nosed kids at a Blockbuster who didn’t know anything OR deal with the Randalls (of Clerks fame) of the world who thought they KNEW everything and were better than you.  You could, for a reasonable price, rent anything you wanted with anonymity and scathe free commentary.

Oh, don’t get me wrong.  You still can do all of that.  Now, you just have to pay out your ass for this right of anonymity.

At any rate, I hope you all don’t think I’m whining because Netflix is raising their prices or coming with me with the whole “They are a business and the point of a business is to make money” argument.  I get that.  I’m the last person in the world who will argue with that because I’m a firm believer of getting what you can if there is demand for it.  And obviously, there is a demand for Netflix.  I have no problem whatsoever with them raising the prices.  In fact, I’d be happy to pay MORE if they went balls to the wall with service.  But, their business model is still lacking.

Not everything can be streamed from Netflix.  I use the DVD/Blu-ray service to supplement what I can’t stream.  That’s why I only pay for 1 disc at a time along with the streaming.  This would all be a moot point if everything was streamable, but it’s not.  And Netflix is treating their streaming service as a ‘complete package’ and charging a premium for it when it is NOT a complete package.

So, from my little corner of the world, here is another plan I offer to you Netflix, if you are listening.  Please create a third option with 100% streaming of all movies/TV shows/etc and no DVD/Blu-ray option and I’ll pay $19.99 a month.  Oh hey, look at that.  I’m willing to pay MORE money for a great option.  It’s not about price.  It’s about what you are trying to hoodwink us into thinking is a complete package/pricing model when it’s clearly not.