Netflix streaming-only subscriptions coming 'in the future'
By Laura June 
posted Feb 25th 2009 8:38PM
posted Feb 25th 2009 8:38PM
[Via Joystiq]
posted Feb 25th 2009 8:38PM
The percentage of sales people that recommend Samsung HDTVs.
Salespeople are also becoming less likely to recommend LCD sets over plasma sets, which goes against the industry trend.
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How many of those 1 million xboxers tried it out for a month, got bored with it and canceled or decided not to use the feature of streaming anymore because of the poor amount of new content on the service and the quality? This 1 million was for just one quarter right when the service was launched and was new to xboxers. Are they still signing on at such a high rate? Probably not.
How long will the ala carte system be available from netflix at such a cheap price before they raise it, upsetting those so called converted?
BTW... Movie studios need to make money or they go out of business. They make money off home video. They haven't made but tenths of one percent on Digital Downloads and make almost nothing on netflix.
They are making PLENTY. And trust me, if they weren't they'd just pull their movies out of Netflix.
We dont get this up in Canada and so could one of my brothers "down south" let me know how good the streamed quality is compared to Blu-rays? Also, is HD streaming possible? Hows the video and sound quality?
Is streaming like this a credible threat to blu-ray or no? thanks.
It's no blu-ray, but yes some things stream in HD and the quality is certainly acceptable, some things look better than others. Heroes, for example, looks very good. Sound quality is also quite good coming from the optical port on my xbox.
In my opinion, not any threat to physical copies just yet.
Btw, I think companies should be more willing to license things like this to places other than the U.S. especially to Canada.
It just seems like there is money to be made, and they are not cashing in on it.
It's essentially the opposite of what everyone said would happen.
Consensus amongst many EHD regulars: Netflix would charge extra for streaming video.
Reality: Netflix is effectively going to charge extra for those who want to still receive DVDs in the mail.
It does make sense, there is no way on Earth their streaming service is more expensive than storing and indexing millions of discs and shipping them around the country to and from individual homes. Yes, bandwidth has costs, but you're talking about tens of cents per movie at worst (probably mere cents for SD), vs dollars for shipping physical discs around.
Squiggie, charging more for over 90 percent of their clientele would be a disaster and poor business decision for Netflix. Those 90 percent would migrate to Blockbuster DVD service in a heartbeat if this were the case. Dont expect this to happen.
owen - if that's the case, then why aren't they leaving now? Why are they going to wait until Netflix comes up with the streaming only plan?
I wouldn't use it, but I know others that might. It is just another way to get more Netflix members.
I'll sign up if they do this!
http://www.homemediamagazine.com/netflix/netflix-cfo-dvd-key-compelling-streaming-offering-14729
"Buoyed by strong subscriber growth attributed in part to its free Watch Now streaming service, Netflix CFO Barry McCarthy Feb. 25 told an investor group that by-mail DVD rentals remain key to providing a “compelling” consumer proposition.
Speaking at Jeffries Internet & Media conference in New York, McCarthy said growth of the streaming business depends on numerous variables, including how fast consumers have access to devices in the home that enable them to stream content on their TV.
To Wall Street analysts seeking to stoke the flames of burgeoning digital distribution of movies in place of DVD, McCarthy offered little grist other than an analogy involving rival Blockbuster Inc.
“When I got into this business in 1999, everyone thought Blockbuster would be put out of business by streaming,” he said. “And they do have their challenges, but none of them relate to streaming. We are going to be in the DVD business for a long time, probably much longer than most of you in the room imagined.”
That said, McCarthy reiterated what CEO Reed Hastings mentioned in previous financial calls, namely that the Los Gatos, Calif.-based online DVD rental pioneer envisions launching a standalone streaming business someday in the future. But the executive admitted that costs associated with licensing newer content and undetermined pricing models and revenue growth margins hampered a quicker rollout.
McCarthy said the adoption rate for streaming would be paced by the growth in the number of platforms that enable users to consume the content on the TV. He said devices such as Web-enabled video game systems, Blu-ray Disc players and Web-enabled TVs tend to be purchased during the Christmas shopping season.
“It is many, many, many years of Christmas selling seasons before enough of those devices populate people’s homes to matter,” he said.
He said that it took the DVD player five years to go from $300 to $35 and reach 50% household penetration.
“These [streaming] devices will not grow that quickly,” McCarthy said.
He said the Watch Now streaming option with limited content, despite the hype, is not compelling enough as a freestanding basis. But when packaged together with the 100,000 DVD titles does offer a better value proposition, according to McCarthy.
“We seek to exploit as a competitive advantage what many people for many years perceived to be a ‘buggy whip company,’ which was the DVD-by-mail business,” he said."
didn't y'all announce this the other day??
The only surprise about this story is that it is a re-run of the same story on EngadgetHD from 2/20/2009:
http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/02/20/netflix-ceo-alludes-to-streaming-only-pricing-by-next-year/
But still an interesting story I suppose :)
$10 says my current $10 a month program will be increased in price to retain my 'one at a time' feature, and this streaming only plan will be the new $10 a month plan. Any takers? I see the bottom line for a program like this just taking the 'one at a time' from current base subscribers like me, so no benefit seen from my end.
I hate Netflix for not supporting PPC Macs and PS3. If I want to watch streaming I have to either buy a crappy Xbox (not going to happen), buy a new mac equivalent to my G5 Dual 2.0 with an Intel processor (at $2700 its not going to happen) or buy one of those crappy Roku boxes (at $100 this is not going to happen I have enough boxes thank you). I do understand that most of this IS Microsh*ts fault, but then again, you have your feet dipped up to your knees by dealing with the slimy bastards.
I hear people thinking that they should go to a streaming only service and get rid of DVDs.
The name appears to be appropriate, but tell me, how would this work for you if you rent the movies to watch on your commute? It wouldn't because you couldn't
effectively stream to one of those devices, at least not nearly as well as renting the physical DVD.
It would be great for some, but definitely not for me. I'll still with the physical DVDs unless they let me download to my Zune or iPod. Zune might go for it one day,
but I don't see Apple jumping on this when they have their own rental store.