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Netflix Deflects Rage Over Price Increase
oxide7 writes "Netflix provoked an unprecedented outpouring of backlash across the Internet as the company unveiled plans to raise prices on its movie-rental services. The company said it would raise the Internet-plus-DVDs-in-the-mail plan from $9.99 per month to $15.98 per month late Tuesday sparking protests and rage across the subscriber base. Netflix brushed off the criticism however. 'We knew there would be some people who would be upset,' company spokesman Steve Swasey said. 'To most people, it's a latte or two,' he added."
and I don't have to sit through a lot of idiotic commercials.
I got here through a series of tubes
Why are so many things justified with the already unjustifiable cost of a Latte? Just as two wrongs don't make a right, two prices that are too high, don't make the second any cheaper.
Let them drink Latte...
My god! The stunning arrogance of the McMansion aristocracy.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
"Simply not worth that much money, especially with competition from Amazon and Google in the works." But the writing is on the wall that the content providers are going to be driving up the prices on ALL such online streaming services. Netflix just happens to be the first and biggest. As articles have said, Netflix USED BE just a "left overs" service, at least from the view point of the content providers (studios, etc). That is, the studios thought that MOST people bought DVDs and saw movies in theaters and Netflix was just there to "mop up" the small fraction of the market that didn't pay through the other channels. But now the studios see that Netflix is rapidly become a MAJOR if not THE predominant channel for customers to view content. So as revenues drop fro DVD sales, the studio EXPECT Netflix, Apple, Amazon, Hulu, Google, etc to raise prices to make up for the shortfall elsewhere. Point is, short of piracy, don't count on finding low cost channels for content from the studios to last forever.
I bet most people would be happy if the price increase would have arrived with a 100% streaming coverage so people can stop relying on DVDs, or maybe some new cool feature.
If you want 100% streaming coverage, $7.99 is way too cheap. Most people are simply being irrational here. The cost of doing business is going up for Netflix, so the cost to pay for the service is going up with it. Netflix gave us all way too good a deal for way too long which has caused most consumers to turn into spoiled little brats.
So expensive that they were able to build a huge company on it but now, suddenly, it's not profitable. Wake up and smell the cash grab.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
If 2/3rds of the user base stays with a 50% price increase, then they've increased revenue while decreasing expenses (less bandwidth usage).
Question is whether it'll stay at just a third leaving.
Yeah, $8 a month for unlimited streaming is a fucking steal. Assuming you watch only an hour a night, you are paying all of 26 cents an hour for your entertainment, a better deal than just about anything else out there.
Check out my world simulator thingy.
The cash grab is coming from the content providers. Netflix has become a major player so they want a bigger share of the pie.
Happy Bastille Day everyone.
Oh grow up, it's just garbage entertainment. When you're really abused is when your food prices start going up, or the bank charges a mysterious fee, or you suddenly can't find work. Or, for that matter, when your wages stagnate while the cost of living continues to increase over the course of decades.
That's when the real overlords laugh the hardest, knowing that your children will consider it a privilege to serve them their own siblings' flesh after you're gone. Netflix is just a sideshow.
You're damn right! Latte? Latte? Arrogant little shit, people (like me) are pinching pennies cancelling even basic cable in the tight economy already trying to keep a "normal" life going with a $10 spot to Netflix. I can go to Redbox, Steve Swasey, you little asshole and get almost 3 DVDs a week! Netflix was mostly to keep my CHILD entertained with kids shows, but fuck it, it's just a latte to you, right?
Sorry for the cursing, but that mother... needs to read The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk and get some goddamn manners! This is a less for how NOT to conduct business when everyone has a direct line to 500 friends on Facebook, Twitter, G+, etc! What a retard! I hope the fact that he is spokesman for Netflix will make future employers go, "Ah, so I guess I don't have to ask why you're now looking for new employment. Well, we don't find you qualified for spokesman, but we do have janitorial."
I8-D
Whatever. Just eat one fewer of those tiny spoonfuls of caviar or drink one less glass of Dom. Or if you don't want to skimp there, light your Cuban cigars with $1 bills instead of $5 bills now. You can cover the difference with the change left in your swim trunks after swimming in your money bin. Why are we complaining about such a small price increase?
$7.99 is way too cheap.
To me that is the most bizarre aspect of this price change. If what you want is just streaming or just DVD, the new plan is very inexpensive. AFAIK, it is the lowest price that Netflix has ever offered. But if you primarily use one and occasionally supplement it with the other, having to pay double the price isn't worth it. So the natural reaction of everyone I know personally, and the vast majority of posts I have seen on the internet is to drop one of the two. It is like Netflix is begging us to give them less money, and presenting it an a manner that is pissing everyone off.
What is even more mind-boggling, is that this ability to supplement one with the other is the one of the biggest advantages that Netflix has over it's competitors, and they just completely threw it out the window.
I understand that the price for streaming would have to increase over time as Netflix renegotiates deals, and the selection increases. I never expected it to be included as a freebee with the DVD service forever, just during it's teething years. But I can't believe that the average person who signs up for both DVD and streaming would use both just as much as the average person who only signs up for one or the other.
If they really believed that the majority of people would keep both plans at the higher price, then their market research people need to be fired.