Netflix Moves Toward Streaming Only
By Chris Weiss
What would you rather do if you had time to watch a movie? Pick out the movie that you feel like watching right now and then watch it after a few seconds worth of ordering–or–pick out a movie that you might feel like watching in a couple days, order it and then wait for it to arrive in your mailbox? Pretty much a no brainer, and Netflix is realizing that the future is in movie streaming rather than snail-mail delivery. Actually, I’m sure it’s known this for a long time, but it’s now making some tangible moves in that direction.
The company released an unlimited stream-only package in the United States today that eliminates hard movies altogether. Netflix stated that more of its customers are now streaming content than having it delivered. The stream-only package will run $7.99/month–$1 cheaper than the combined package has traditionally cost. At the same time, though, the price of the stream + mail package got a hike of $1. Those prices go into effect immediately for new subscribers and in January for existing customers.
Makes sense to me, when Netflix began streaming content it seemed like only a matter of time before its mail service became as obsolete as video rental stores. Now if they could just start getting new releases more quickly…[via Information Week]
