Earlier this month, Netflix made a deal with Warner Bros. to delay new DVD releases for 28 days. Over at Hacking Netflix, the CEO of the company goes into some detail on why he approached Warner Bros. to begin with (it was his idea, not theirs), and why he thinks it will work out better for everyone except those customers who signed up expecting all new releases all the time. [More]
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Netflix Streaming Finally Coming To The Wii
By 1.13.10
Those of you with the Wii will no longer be left out of the Netflix streaming party. The service is coming to the console this spring. [More]
See What Your Zipcode Likes To Rent On Netflix
By 1.11.10
The NYT has taken some data released by Netflix (the top 50 rental titles for each zipcode) and made some interactive heat maps out of it. It’s weirdly fun. [More]
Netflix Agrees To Delay Warner Bros. New DVDs For 28 Days
By 1.6.10
Netflix has agreed to terms with Warner Bros. that will delay rentals of new DVD releases for 28 days. Warner Bros. has unilaterally imposed the same restriction on Redbox — and those negotiations were apparently much less friendly and involved more lawyers. [More]
Disney Claims "Up" DVD Missing Captions Were A Mistake
By 11.22.09
Many Consumerist readers wrote to Disney about the missing captions in rental editions of the Pixar movie “Up,” either because they were personally affected or they found the omission offensive. In their response, Disney at least acknowledges the unique issue and promises to make up for the mistake of consumers submit proof that they rented “Up.”
Rent The Runway: Netflix For Designer Dresses
By 11.20.09
Who wants to spend $500 on a dress that you’ll be too fat for the next time you use it? Enter Rent The Runway, the Netflix of online dress rental.
Netflix Leaves Me Hanging On 'Dexter'
By 11.19.09
Sarah has been trying to catch up on the Showtime series Dexter over Netflix, but she’s been stuck in the middle since early September because Neftlix won’t get the next disc to her.
Netflix Will Screw You For The Right Price
By 11.11.09
Hollywood studios are sick of you renting their DVDs and want you to start buying them again. The way to trick you into this, they figure, is to withhold the discs from rental companies for a month, forcing you to get all antsy and run out and buy them.
You Will Probably Never See A Blockbuster SD-Card Kiosk
By 11.10.09
Here’s an idea: When your top rivals are renting dirt-cheap DVDs from ubiquitous kiosks, or streaming thousands of films as a free bonus to customers who rent mail-order rmovies, what do you do? If you’re Blockbuster, you start a trial run of kiosks that will allow consumers to rent DRM-protected videos on SD cards, and play them back using a proprietary box that will do nothing else. Yeah, that’ll show ’em.
DVD Price War: Harry Potter, Star Trek For $10
By 11.6.09
Walmart announced yesterday that it will be slashing prices to below wholesale on 10 of the most popular DVDs that will be released soon, says the LA Times. Target announced that it will be matching Walmart. Amazon has not yet responded.
Streaming Movies: Best Buy Preparing For A World Without DVDs
By 11.3.09
Best Buy announced a “a Best Buy-branded offering, available starting early next year,” that will stream “first-run DVDs” online directly to consumers, says the NYT Bits Blog.
Netflix Streaming Coming To PS3 In November
By 10.26.09
Sony is barging in on Microsoft’s territory, having hammered out a deal to stream Netflix movies over the console just like the Xbox 360 for no additional charge beyond the Netflix membership.
Check Your Netflix Envelopes This Week For Blu-ray Coupon
By 10.21.09
Hacking Netflix spotted some sweet savings on the inside of envelopes sent out by the movie rent-by-mail service: $50 off coupons that would bring the price of an Insignia Blu-ray player down to about $100 or $150. The coupon expires Saturday.
Watch Wizard Of Oz For Free Online On Oct 3
By 9.16.09
You can start watching Wizard of Oz for free online via Netflix from 9am October 3rd to 9am October 4th. The promo is part of the 70th anniversary of Dorothy and the gang’s epic adventure. Yay, free flying monkeys!
Yeah, Blockbuster Is Pretty Much F*#$%$
By 9.16.09
Back in the day there used to be these things called VHS tapes. They used to cost a lot of money — so there were these places you could go to rent them. The last surviving relic of this bygone era, Blockbuster Video (also known as the company that was almost stupid enough to buy Circuit City), announced in a regulatory filing today that it plans to close over 800 stores by the end of next year. This is nearly twice the number they previously announced.
Netflix Refunds Your Money Without You Even Asking
By 9.1.09
If other companies were smart, and they mostly aren’t, they would adopt Netflix’s strategy of having periodic outages then apologizing and offering credits without their customers having to do anything. Whenever this happens (as it apparently did on August 30) we get a flood of delighted emails from their customers, many of whom didn’t even notice the outage in the first place.
Video Mailbox: Like Netflix, Only 15 Years Too Early
By 8.20.09
I had always thought that mail-order video rental only came to be after the invention of DVDs because video tapes are too bulky and delicate to send through the mail on a regular basis. I was wrong.
