NetFlix

[Jeff Lebowski]

Well I finally took the plunge and signed up for netflix. I think it is terrific, but I am quite disappointed in the small percentage of movies/tv series that are available in streaming mode. I have been reading all of these articles describing how netflix sees itself primarily as a streaming service now and is trying to get everyone converted to streaming vs. physical DVD rental. I would be happy to never rent a DVD again, but my goodness give us more access.

Are there plans in the works for opening up more material for streaming access? What is the bottleneck here? Contracts with studios?

[Indy Coug]

The streaming selection is slowly improving, but it has a long ways to go. It used to be even worse just 6 to 12 months ago. We stream HD movies via our PS3 and it works really well.

Streamable new releases are really hard to come by .

[Moliere]

The streaming selection is slowly improving, but it has a long ways to go. It used to be even worse just 6 to 12 months ago. We stream HD movies via our PS3 and it works really well.

Streamable new releases are really hard to come by .

Yep, it's even improved over the last couple months. I have no idea what the hold up is, but I imagine contracts with studios. I love being able to watch something on my iPhone while I commute to work.

[Katy Lied]

Put me with the rest of the voices that say that Netflix has come a long way in just the past year. They raised my rates from $8 to $9 per month, and they said that the increase was solely due to licensing fees for mostly tv shows.

For me, Netflix is not so much for new or newer movies. It's to catch up on marvelous movies I have missed in the past. And great old episodes of Nova and other TV series I have never seen. There's also a bunch of foreign language films and other offbeat movies that you want to watch every now and then. For new movies, I still go to the theater. For newER movies I still go to the dollar theater.

[Clark Addison]

I'll echo what others have said. I looked at their streaming shortly after they introduced it, and there was literally almost nothing that I had ever heard of. mostly just straight to video releases, obscure documentaries, and educational stuff.

Not seeing anything I liked, I didn't look again for a year or so, and was suprised with how much more they had (I watched The Big Lebowski for the first time while riding the bus last week). They continue to add stuff, as they know this is the future. I am sure it will continue to improve.

[BoylenOver]

My instant queue has 100+ movies/tv shows in it. I've never had an issue with the instant selection.

[Levin]

I read an interview with Netflix's chief licensing executive and he said that the main difficulty in increasing the streaming catalog is the arcane licensing deals that the studios have with the networks (HBO, for example) that prevents them from licensing the goods to services like Netlfix. Plus the exorbitant cost of paying the licensing fees -- I think it's a situation where as Netflix increases its subscribership and its costs go down as people rely more on streaming than expensive shipping of DVDs, then they'll be able to pay to expand their streaming catalog.

[Katy Lied]

cheers.

Good to have you back.

One clever tech geek decided to get back at his cheating ex-girlfriend by going on a rampage through her Netflix movie ratings so all her recommendations would be a bitch slap across the internets:

[Mormon Red Death]

Netflix and ABC/Disney sign a deal for streaming content

They need to make a deal with AMC.

[TripletDaddy]

I need to learn my netflix protocol.

I was toying around with the netflix app and put a few movies in my queue. I figured it would be fun to get around to watching these movies sometime in the future.

A few days later I receive one of the movies in the mail. Whoops! I thought the queue was simply a list of movies that I wanted to remember to stream onto my device.

[SeattleUte]

I read an interview with Netflix's chief licensing executive and he said that the main difficulty in increasing the streaming catalog is the arcane licensing deals that the studios have with the networks (HBO, for example) that prevents them from licensing the goods to services like Netlfix. Plus the exorbitant cost of paying the licensing fees -- I think it's a situation where as Netflix increases its subscribership and its costs go down as people rely more on streaming than expensive shipping of DVDs, then they'll be able to pay to expand their streaming catalog.

arcane or achaic?

[Commando]

Good to have you back.

One clever tech geek decided to get back at his cheating ex-girlfriend by going on a rampage through her Netflix movie ratings so all her recommendations would be a bitch slap across the internets:

That's amazing! ha ha!

[1337coug]

I need to learn my netflix protocol.

I was toying around with the netflix app and put a few movies in my queue. I figured it would be fun to get around to watching these movies sometime in the future.

A few days later I receive one of the movies in the mail. Whoops! I thought the queue was simply a list of movies that I wanted to remember to stream onto my device.

Your queue is the movies you want sent in the mail, your instant queue is the list of streaming movies. They're both really nice though. If you get a list of movies in your queue they'll just keep sending you the next one on your list until you run out. I still have the first 2 DVDs they sent me almost a year ago. I need to switch to the new streaming only plan and save myself $1/month.

[Levin]

arcane or achaic?

They're both, I'm sure, but I meant arcane, just as I wrote. I remember him describing the agreements as pretty obscure and complex agreements.

[Uncle Ted]

I have been watching the netflix stock. It is down from $234 on Sept 1st to something under $180. Down $30 this morning. Netflix was expecting to add 25M subscribers by the end of the month but recently adjusted that estimate to only 1M. This may be partly due to Netflix's Starz contract coming to an end earlier this month.

My stock broker suggested earlier this year that I look at buying some the "hot" Netflix stock. I told him he was crazy. I am getting ready to write the dumbass an email.