Netflix is considering a movie subscription plan that entails only Internet streaming, without the mail order DVD service that made it famous, CEO Reed Hastings said.
Hastings told Bloomberg that a stream-only plan could come later this year or some time in 2010.
“We’ve got one singular objective, which is ‘Be successful in streaming,’” he said. “If we do that, that’s a homerun.”
Roughly 12,000 videos are currently available through Netflix’s "Instant Watch" feature, which streams to a computer or compatible devices like the Roku box, TiVo or the Xbox 360. The by-mail service includes 100,000 choices. Earlier this year, Hastings said the company will invest heavily in expanding the Instant Watch library this year.
For now, Netflix will stick with a "best of both" strategy, but speaking to Bloomberg, Hastings said Netflix will have to shift towards online services to survive. In the long term, he said, an "appreciable number" of people will find that streaming is all they need. When that happens, the company wants to be ready with a plan for those customers.
It’ll be interesting to see how Netflix sets the price for such a plan (Hastings won’t tell at the moment). Even if, as Hastings says, "millions" of the company’s 10 million subscribers use the Instant Watch feature, it’ll have to be cheap enough to lure people who aren’t interested in mail-order DVDs, but not so cheap as to convince existing customers to drop their DVD plans entirely.
What do you think is a fair price for stream-only Netflix?
11 Comments
- guest
- Posts: 15288
- Posted on: 23 Feb 09 19:59
- guest
- Posts: 15288
- Posted on: 23 Feb 09 20:13
I would say they shouldn't have a premium on streaming. I would think the goal is to get everyone on streaming. No shipping, no employees stuffing movies into envelopes, no inventory, no dvd replacement costs. Every person that streams = $$$ for Netflix.
- guest
- Posts: 15288
- Posted on: 23 Feb 09 20:47
Personally I want my movies in great quality, and instantly available. Netflix can't deliver this yet.
I'm going to stick with my VUDU now and just use the Xbox for games.
- guest
- Posts: 15288
- Posted on: 23 Feb 09 23:08
(1) Can only get dial-up? (Yes, they do exist.)
(2) Have a broadband connection from a company that is going to implement some kind of (unreasonable) bandwidth cap? (Yes, they do exist--and more are on the way.)
- guest
- Posts: 15288
- Posted on: 24 Feb 09 14:16
I wonder how long it will be before the FTC takes notice of all these ISPs implementing strict usage caps and then turning around and offering their own streaming service (with no cap, of course).
- guest
- Posts: 15288
- Posted on: 26 Feb 09 18:54
Just send me my disc, let me play it and then send it back...
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