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2.7 Million Americans Still Get Netflix DVDs in the Mail (cnn.com)
Remember when Netflix used to be a DVD-by-mail company? Well, for 2.7 million subscribers in the US, it still is. From a report: The familiar red envelopes have been arriving in customers' mailboxes since 1998 and helped earn the company a healthy $212 million profit last year. Why are so many people still using this old-school service in the age of streaming? There are a number of reasons. Streaming Netflix video requires a lot of bandwidth -- so much so that Netflix consumes 15% of all US internet bandwidth, according to a 2018 industry report. But many rural areas of the country remain without broadband access. The Federal Communications Commission estimates 24 million Americans fall on the wrong side of this digital divide. The US Postal Service, however, can reach every ZIP code with those red envelopes. One such customer is Dana Palmateer, who lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
"Streaming movies was a no-go, so I just went with the disc service that Netflix offers," she says. "As all of us are doing it in these parts." But Netflix also has plenty of DVD customers in urban areas who prefer the service for its convenience and selection of movies, spokeswoman Annie Jung says. "People assume that our customers must either be super seniors or folks that live in the boonies with no internet access," she says. "Actually, our biggest hot spots are the coasts, like the Bay Area and New York." In 2017, the number of people who subscribed to Netflix's DVD subscription was about 4 million.
"Streaming movies was a no-go, so I just went with the disc service that Netflix offers," she says. "As all of us are doing it in these parts." But Netflix also has plenty of DVD customers in urban areas who prefer the service for its convenience and selection of movies, spokeswoman Annie Jung says. "People assume that our customers must either be super seniors or folks that live in the boonies with no internet access," she says. "Actually, our biggest hot spots are the coasts, like the Bay Area and New York." In 2017, the number of people who subscribed to Netflix's DVD subscription was about 4 million.
There are a lot of obscure movies and documentaries which are still not easily available streaming. The one at a time plan is fine for me, and I can get any of the oddball stuff reasonably quickly, which is better than not at all.
I have a streaming Netflix account, and I get the two DVDs at a time disc-in-the-mail service. The streaming is good for TV series and specialty Netflix material, but the range of films available for streaming is tiny compared to what's available on disc. Foreign films, documentaries, obscure films, so much stuff not available to stream. Probably licensing issues. So I do both.
I have a gigabit connection, but I prefer blu-rays for media. Streaming doesn't offer nearly the quality or selection. It's cheaper than signing up for a bunch of different streaming services too, especially if you're willing to wait for the TV stuff.
I have 60-100 movies and TV shows in my DVD queue at any given time. Netflix tells me which are streaming (to try to get me to sign up for their streaming service). There are easily less than 1% on my list available streaming at any given time. Their streaming catalog is almost useless to me.
I pay for 3 discs at a time, and I'd pay for 4 if they'd let me.
Though Netflix's service has deteriorated, and the DVD inventory is getting pretty poor. For example, only one or two seasons of a 8-season TV show. Even worse, a show that was most popular in its time, Cheers, is not even available on DVD from Netflix. Cheers!?!?!? Delivery time is up to two days in each direction now because distribution centers have been shut down. To me it looks as if Netflix is just soaking the DVD customers for all they can.
We have both a DVD and streaming subscription. There is a lot of content only available on DVD. We've basically watched the streaming content of interest, but have a long DVD queue we are slowing going through 1 disc at a time.
I have eclectic taste in movies and they're almost never available streaming. I always have a NFLX movie at home ready to watch and the titles will almost certainly never be available streaming.
Now that idiots at all the companies are all trying to make an exclusive streaming service that I'll never buy DVDs allow me to watch that content.
Who said she had a problem with that? Grow up.
You're messin' with my Zen Thing, man.....
The non-streaming catalog is (was) greater and does not disappear due to arbitrary license expirations.
Still is, and first sale doctrine means studios can't yank their titles from the mail version.
When my wife persuaded me to purchase a "farm" at the end of a dirt road off of another dirt road off of a two-lane paved road 11 miles outside a 1-stop-light town, one of the things we knew was going to be a problem was internet. Fortunately, we found a local provider who would raise a small microwave tower on a part of the property (about the size of a front-yard flagpole, not a huge thing) and if we would pay for the electric hookup and monthly electric (about $15/mo) they'd let us have free internet. The tower is line-of-sight to a water tower in town, where the main transmitters are located and our tower provides local access to our house and a few neighbors by small transceivers on our houses. I'm pretty sure I don't want to start a streaming video business from the house, but we can watch Netflix, Prime, ESPN 3 with no problems so that's a win. The alternative was Hughesnet or one of their competitors.