An unannounced alteration to Netflix's instant queue listing system confused some subscribers this weekend; titles seemingly vanished into the ether. The streaming giant didn't actually remove any content said Brent Wickens, Vice President of Customer Service. Rather, it was an attempt to simplify instant queue management for subscribers.
Writing at the official Netflix blog, Wickens explained what was done and why:
We stopped showing titles that were at one point available for streaming. We did not delete those titles; we merely stopped showing them on the instant Queue page until we know exactly when they’ll again be there to watch instantly. When we know that a title will be available again it will reappear in the saved section, and once it is available it will move back into the instant Queue, with a Play button.
Inactive instant streaming titles are now no longer listed in subscribers' queues, said Wickens. "We heard from our members that the list of unavailable titles complicates use of the instant Queue," he wrote. "And given the dynamic nature of our catalog that list can get long over time."
Members voiced outrage in the blog entry's comment section, lambasting Netflix for the double-speak.
"This is a disaster," said one commenter named Michael Moulton. "You may not have deleted the titles, but effectively you've made it impossible for us to find them again."
Another subscriber, Stacy Flatt, pointed out that Netflix had essentially multiplied its troubles. "So, you took one problem (too many streaming movies becoming unavailable) and turned it into two problems (streaming movies are still becoming unavailable and now we can't keep track of them to add them to the DVD queue)," she wrote. "Brilliant."
Others just called a spade a spade.
"It's clear the primary motivation for this was to conceal how many of the titles in our queues are now unavailable for streaming," said F. Neill Simms. "Many of mine are not available via DVD either, so were inaccessible, period."
Earlier this month, Netflix faced a similar boondoggle when customers were suddenly unable to activate more than one stream at a time. Some surmised that the company had finally decided to cut down on a practice it didn't actually allow in the first place. Netflix spokesperson Steve Swasey clarified that it was simply a glitch. "No Netflix member is limited to less than two concurrent streams," said Swasey. "A few Netflix members have heard differently from us, which is an error that we are correcting."
Last week Netflix stock dropped dramatically as it announced around 1 million subscribers would jump ship this fall. The company raised the price for its DVD and streaming package up to $15.98 per month on September 1. The pending loss of Starz TV shows and movies - due to go into effect next February - didn't help convince fence-sitting subscribers to say.
What do you think of this move by Netflix? Is it sound or shady? Let us know in the comment section.
