I currently do not have a BD player though I am considering buying one buy the end of the year. I have to admit that this increase will cause me pause. I am a 3 out at time for most of the year switching to 4 out for the summer months and then back to 3.
The really disappointing thing is that the original $1 BD surcharge has apparently not fixed the major complaint of 'very long waits' for BD movies. And I have my doubts that this latest price increase will fix that. There is nothing in their blog that says that they will be buying more copies of individual movies. Just that BD movies cost more than DVD.
So, what is NetFlix to do about BD movies? At this point in time only about 10% of their customer base has BD players. Should the other 90% subsidize the 10%? I know, the same thing could be said about their streaming service. I for one have never used the streaming service so in theory I am subsidizing those who do use it. What percentage of subscribers use the streaming service? Based upon management comments it would be seem to be far larger than the 10% BD customer base. Should NetFlix start adding a surcharge to the monthly bill for those who want to stream movies? Personally I think that you will see such a charge by the end of this year.
I will play the devil's advocate for a moment. NetFlix's future is using the internet as the delivery mechanism - not the mail. NetFlix does not care whether the internet is used for streaming or for downloading. I think that NetFlix has decided, at this point in time, that BD is going to be just a niche way of delivering their product and they are NOT going to provide financial resources to this delivery method. BD does fit into their business model and they wish that it would just go away.
For the Charlotte metro area the following have announced that they will turn off the analog on Feb 17th: WBTV (CBS), WHKY, WCCB(FOX), WXAN(Independent), WNSC(ETV), WTVI(PBS). Delaying until June 12th: WUNG. Undecided: WSOC(ABC), WCNC(NBC), WJZY(CW) and WYMT(MyNetwork).
What a mess. If half the stations drop analog on the 17th, then the reality is that the June 12th cut off just as might as well not exist.
Why is this new news. They flushed my HD DVD queue and turned of the HD DVD flag months ago. Think it was in the March-April time period.
Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
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The really disappointing thing is that the original $1 BD surcharge has apparently not fixed the major complaint of 'very long waits' for BD movies. And I have my doubts that this latest price increase will fix that. There is nothing in their blog that says that they will be buying more copies of individual movies. Just that BD movies cost more than DVD.
So, what is NetFlix to do about BD movies? At this point in time only about 10% of their customer base has BD players. Should the other 90% subsidize the 10%? I know, the same thing could be said about their streaming service. I for one have never used the streaming service so in theory I am subsidizing those who do use it. What percentage of subscribers use the streaming service? Based upon management comments it would be seem to be far larger than the 10% BD customer base. Should NetFlix start adding a surcharge to the monthly bill for those who want to stream movies? Personally I think that you will see such a charge by the end of this year.
I will play the devil's advocate for a moment. NetFlix's future is using the internet as the delivery mechanism - not the mail. NetFlix does not care whether the internet is used for streaming or for downloading. I think that NetFlix has decided, at this point in time, that BD is going to be just a niche way of delivering their product and they are NOT going to provide financial resources to this delivery method. BD does fit into their business model and they wish that it would just go away.