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Netflix to delay new movie releases by 28 days
By delaying the rental availability of new releases, Warner Bros. can maximize the sales potential of films (it's noted that 75% of the sell-through occurs in the first four weeks), while still granting Netflix the right to Warner's movies. Netflix will also benefit from "reduced product costs and significantly more units and better in-stock levels".
"We're able to help an important business partner meet its objectives while improving service levels for our members by acquiring substantially more units than in the past after a relatively short sell-through window," said Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer.
User Comments: 53
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Netflix is going down hill it is that plan and simple. First they got rid of the top 50 instant stream list, (So the website didn't have to much stuff on it) the reality of it was all the power users where using the list to find movies because the website is so hard to find a movie unless you already know what you want to watch. It could have also been because the top instant stream movies where all about pot.
Now this, to me it seemed like netflix was on the cutting edge but since it has become bigger it's focus has switch to just making money (which isn't a bad thing they are a bussines after all). I still really like netflix because it is the only movie service that I have used that offers more than illegal downloading. What I mean by this is I can pick the movie I want to watch and just start watching it. Where the other route is picking the movie dling somehow than waiting the 10-30 minutes for it to download. This is the same reason I starting watching tv shows on hulu instead of the dl route.
I really just want the top 50 list back in all honesty. If I really want to watch a movie the chances are I will go see it in the theater and if I don't but I still want to watch it I would most likely dl it. So all this new deal does for me is reduce the chance I will be watching there movie legally.
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Well I guess that now i can cancel my Netflix account. Its not worth any more..
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I like my Netflix account. I only left them briefly in 2006. They would give new releases to new members, but us old timers had to endure "long waits"... When RedBox came into being, this annoyance didn't matter any longer. I like Netflix for the older movies and TV series DVDs
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Eddie_42 said:
Guest said:Well I guess that now i can cancel my Netflix account. Its not worth any more..
Are new release Warner Bros. movies the only ones you rent?
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More like:
Customer = Lose
Netflix = Doesn't lose right to time warner films and have angry customers.
Time Warner = Win
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To put it simple...
you get less for the same amount of money.
Netflix makes it self less interesting.
...and people will not stop downloading illegaly, instead this behavior is gonna increase.
You cant present a good or decent legal alternativ, then after you get people to use it...just make it less atractive. If you do, you will get punished. Its that simpel.
If I know I can get a movie the same day its relased, or even before... and all good legal options are removed.. ...what do you think the most people will do.
Wait like a "good chistian" (or slave to the industries) ..or get what they want somewhere else, legal or not.
If we want content now, we will get the content now, somehow.
Why not just realize how the world works today and start making money of it instead?
Why fight it, you will loose in the end...and no matter of threats will stop this.
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The primary problem with this move is that it sets a dangerous precedent. What is to stop the other studios from requiring similar contractual delays in releasing their titles? And why is it JUST Netflix that is being pulled into this agreement, why not Blockbuster and Redbox? Are those guys next? And if not, why the singling out of Netflix?
In effect, Netflix buckled to pressures and was wooed by financial savings, with the only people really affected being their customers who will now have to wait a month longer than with other services (for this one studio, so far), yet still pay the same fee.
Now we get to see who is next up to the plate. Typically, once greedy jackals smell blood, they all go for the exposed weakness to get their pound of flesh. I just hope this doesn't signal the start of a steady erosion of customer benefits.
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The primary problem with this move is that it sets a dangerous precedent. What is to stop the other studios from requiring similar contractual delays in releasing their titles? And why is it JUST Netflix that is being pulled into this agreement, why not Blockbuster and Redbox? Are those guys next? And if not, why the singling out of Netflix?
You make a lot of good points, but there are many differences between Netflix, Redbox, and Blockbuster.
Blockbuster has arrangements in place with some studios to offer rentals that are "Blockbuster Exclusives". Which, (or so I was told by one of their store managers), another rental firm would actually have to buy at retail, if they wanted to offer them on the date of release.
While there is much contention about the price that Redbox charges for rentals, taken as a whole, it's actually MORE expensive than either Blockbuster or Netflix under certain conditions. Point being, at the 5 day point, a Netflix and a Blockbuster rental are the same price, after that, charges still accrue with the Redbox rental, but all you'll get is a scolding on the phone from BB's computer. So obviously, if you scurry right back with the Redbox offering, you've saved some money, if you don't, then you didn't .
Blockbuster still offers the "Movie Pass". Which is all you can rent, 30 bucks, 30 days, 2 out at a time, which does present an ethical dilemma to the proud owner, since if you go even once a day and exchange both movies, ((rent by a single day) as the average person does with Redbox)), then that would be sixty movies a month, which would be 50 cents a rental. If you see where I'm going with this. Someone with no moral compass could return a movie in perhaps an hour or so, and claim that it stunk, and replace it, no questions asked, but perhaps some eyebrows raised by the store personnel. I've seen this done on a number occasions. If I miss a new release, I'll ask if anybody did a "burn and return" on the title yet, and from time to time the answer was "yes". I distinctly remember connecting with a returned copy of "Serenity",. @ about 1:00 PM on the day it was released.
I have to disagree with your point that the studio wants direct download. They are so afraid of it that they have had whole meetings on how to get it outlawed.I'm quoting our guest for a second time, since I feel he (or she) has over simplified the issue. The studios would be glad to sell you the movie by direct download, which would put a lot of people in the DVD authoring sector of the trade out of work, but granted the other types of downloads do freak them out quite a bit.NONE OF THIS IS NEW BUSINESS.....!!
Once upon a time, when VCRs weighted about 30 pounds, cost more than a thousand dollars, and were almost completely illegal, there was no such thing as a "rental movie"! Way back when the studios were running their mouths saying such thing as, "it should be illegal to tape a TV show, since people will skip over the advertising". And today boys and girls, we have a name for this process, TIVO-ing
Prerecorded video cassettes cost upward of at least $20.00, ( which was probably double the value of today's money).So, then somebody got the brilliant to rent them! At that time, there was a rental delay of, I think, about 90 days. The rental houses got the movie 90 days before it was offered for sale at retail, and had to pay title dependent prices of up to 90 dollars per cassette...!
The quality of VHS is lousy, so if you wanted to see the movie the way it was intended, the theater was your only option. Oh and BTW, a blank video cassette was about $10.00. Yeah right, as much as a blank Blu-ray disc.
Wow, wouldn't the studios like to go back there again?
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I read about half of these and I couldn't resist posting anylonger. I'm going to can my netflix subscription, I've had one for YEARS, but if I can't get a new release, then I'm out. As said above me, we can find a version of the movie online, for free, before 28 days (most often a week before it is even out, in HD). I was keeping netflix mostly because with Plex I could watch netflix movies on my tv, but hulu and netflix don't want their services working with stuff like plex or boxee so to keep it working you have to deal with a breakage, and then wait for it to be fixed. Thats too much of an inconvienience.
I'm about to drop cable completely really. Most of the reason I'm on it now is because I literally live right at the edge of 3 cities's coverage region, and I can't get any OTA for free without a super nice antenna.
But for sports, justin.tv or channelsurfing.net works pretty good. News I can find online, what else is there? Regular tv shows are being upped in damn near HD quality within seconds of finishing, in HD quality within an hour or two on torrents, and if you can wait a day they show up on the website of whoever airs them.
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If this happens with Netflix, it will happen with everything else, Redbox et al. Get over it.
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I canceled my membership with Netflix and went to blockbuster for the same price and now I can get movies the week they are released......I'm Happy
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redbox has agreed to the same deal as netflix. so I can't see them as a winner either. The winner is the movie industry. OH and before you say blockbuster won. They also have to agree to the same agreement. So the rental industry loses and the movie industry won.
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I think VHS movies a long time ago used to be rental only before you could buy them, which is kind of odd since now its backwards of that....
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A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far Away........
I think VHS movies a long time ago used to be rental only before you could buy them, which is kind of odd since now its backwards of that....Very true, that was at the very beginning of the rental industry. The deal that was in force at the time was that the rental houses got a specific lead time before the videos were released for sale to the public. I think this was about 90 days, I'm not certain.During that period, rental houses paid staggering sums for their videos. I remember seeing $75.00 to $90.00 dollars, concomitant with a minimum order of quantity. I even think that the prices were merit based depending on potential popularity.
After that, retail sales prices of VHS titles was around that of Blu-Ray today. Considering, that was at least 30 years ago, and adjusting for inflation, video cassette movies were almost the proverbial, "arm and a leg"!
Something to consider also when pondering the current "reversal of fortune", whereby you can purchase the movie before you can rent it, is that back in the day, VCRs were up to $700.00, and VHS to VHS copy can only be described as lousy. Macrovision still had their finger in the pot, as it were, with analog copy protection in VHS media.
To say the balance of power has shifted to the consumer today, is an understatement of epic proportion.
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I don't exactly know how Netflix works at this time but I guess they have enough reason why they delayed the release... Just learn to wait..
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Your thought of $75.00 to $90.00 per copy is correct as far as I remember. I think this continued through at least the mid 90s on VHS.
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I don't exactly know how Netflix works at this time but I guess they have enough reason why they delayed the release... Just learn to wait..Have you even read the point of this thread? The movie studio withheld the releases, and Netflix was forced to go along with it.
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The "Good Old Days"
Your thought of $75.00 to $90.00 per copy is correct as far as I remember. I think this continued through at least the mid 90s on VHS.I rember buying a Sony VCR, I think it was a 435-SVR or some nonsense like that. The model number was basically the price, and if you wanted to copy a tape, you needed two of those suckers, plus the mail order CGE box for $50.00 bucks in between.That Sony really sucked on SLP too. You're right, I think that this was somewhere around '92 to '93.
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Redbox is included in the Warner Bros clause.
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Yeah redbox would be awesome if it also didn't agree to a 4 week window. Only blockbuster has exclusive rights.
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Yeah, Redbox woulod be awesome.......if only they didn't agree to wait four weeks for the releases too. Only Blockbuster has exclusive rights to Warner Bros DVDs. Oh Yeah, and On Demand too. They say this move is meant to stimulate DVD sales but that's BS! The cable companies are behind this move and Blockbuster will end up out of business unless they figure out what's going on. If only Blockbuster had apps for Xbox and PS3 streaming video for a cheap(er) price.......
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Yeah redbox would be awesome if it also didn't agree to a 4 week window. Only blockbuster has exclusive rights.Yeah, Redbox woulod be awesome.......if only they didn't agree to wait four weeks for the releases too. Only Blockbuster has exclusive rights to Warner Bros DVDs. Oh Yeah, and On Demand too. They say this move is meant to stimulate DVD sales but that's BS! The cable companies are behind this move and Blockbuster will end up out of business unless they figure out what's going on. If only Blockbuster had apps for Xbox and PS3 streaming video for a cheap(er) price.......Guess what you two, part of the issue is not just studio profits, but partly is conceded as life support for Blockbuster. If Blockbuster fails,(and they're not doing real well, mind you), then a lot of DVDs get not sold.
That said, you're supposed to go crying to "On Demand" for your movies. But remember, that avenue is loaded with DRM. So, it's like they say about handguns, "when DVDs are outlawed, only outlaws will have DVDs"
Myself, I can wait the extra 30 days for hard copy, rather than conceding that the computer is my only avenue for entertainment. I'm not a big enough ***** to want to watch "Avatar" on an iPhone either.
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blu ray is so overated it's not even funny....seriously. Also Where do you live? the red boxes nera me have both formats.
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Warner bros has enough money,they dont deserve anymore. I don't work there. chances are either do any of you, why should you even care? Those employees are ALL over paid. This is fact.
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The principal remains the same, if you are paying money for a service.Then that service needs to be able to meet your demands. Delaying movies, no matter how you slice it....is and will always be a horrible business decision.If that means you can't rent Warner bros movies, oh well... they got enough money anyway screw them...better studios out there anyway.
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