Blockbuster is Pissing Off Customers With Bringing Back Late Fees

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I lived at home for a year after graduating college and commuted to the city everyday by train. I enjoyed growing up and had such a great college experience, culminating it to backpacking the middle east for almost a month right after. Then I entered the working world, began living in the same baby room I did when I was 15, did the daily grind with the rest of the zombies, and had no life. Due to the fact that I lived at home, didn’t have that many friends in the area at the time, and because of this new working lifestyle was just downright miserable, I found myself heading straight to Blockbuster many a Friday nights after work to get a movie, and waste my night away by myself. It costs $5 to rent a movie, am I didn’t even mind cause if I got lazy and didn’t return the movie within the week, I never had to worry about late fees anymore.

Well times have changed, so have my movie rental preferences, and so has Blockbuster’s late fee policies.

Much like myself, many users switched to Netflix, the leading movie rental service where you could be as lazy as you like, simply click a few buttons, and the movie of your choice came to your mailbox. I love this option, said see you later Blockbuster and have never looked back. Well because so many people have done this, Blockbuster, was forced to bring back their late fees to try to make up for some lost revenue.

Blockbuster already is in deep financial trouble and is closing down stores left and right throughout the country. The problem with Blockbuster is ironically that in order for the store to thrive, it needs users to rent older movies, which in store Blockbusters lack the selection. There are many reasons why Netflix is dominating, mainly because there are no brick and mortar building, because the cost of them is way too high, so they rather get a couple of warehouses in the middle of bumblefuck and ship everything out. Blockbuster hasn’t realized this yet for reasons I have no idea. Now they have their own mail in service but are still behind Netflix, especially since they recently made deals with all the gaming systems to stream movies online.

Blockbuster is in the dumps, and not only Netflix, they have to compete with itunes, on-demand, PPV, and of course illegal downloads. Bringing back the late fees is a desperate attempt at the company to try to squeeze a little more money out of its customers. This will backfire. The ones who are loyal, will be pissed that Blockbuster now is bringing back late fees, and this will most likely cause customers to leave.

Either two things are going to happen in the near future with my predictions.

1. Blockbuster is going to file chapter 11, go completely bankrupt and just shut their doors.

2. Completely shut down all brick and mortar stores and only be a online movie rental service or some sort of downloadeable service to compete with Netflix and itunes.

Circuit City recently had tons of financial problems, shut down, and rumors are they are going to sprout back up but strictly be an online electronics store. If Blockbuster ever wants to continue in business, they will have to use this business strategy, otherwise they will be another company we will forget ever existed.

What do you think about Blockbuster bringing back late fees?

Comments : Post a Comment | Category : Movie News, Rants | Tags : Blockbuster,Netflix

Netflix Looking Into Building an iphone App to Stream Movies

Posted by Craig Kessler on March 3, 2010 at 2:30 am

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Netflix, the leading movie rental service that has been expanding its online streaming video service even further, is trying to take things mobile now. There have been rumors in the past about Netflix looking into creating an iphone app. Well now those rumors just got a little bit juicier. Netflix has been asking customers about their thoughts on a Netflix iphone app and if they would use it to watch movies and television shows on it using Wifi. ATT would never allow Netflix to stream over the 3G network with all the issues that currently exist, but Wifi can be found in houses, public stores, parks, buses and more and could easily be something very beneficial to users.

Here’s the full text of what’s being asked in the survey:

“Imagine that Netflix offers its subscribers the ability to instantly watch movies & TV episodes on their iPhone. The selection availability to instantly watch includes some new releases, lots of classics and TV episodes. There are no advertisements or trailers, and movies start in as little as 30 seconds. You can fast-forward, rewind, and pause or watch again. The movies & TV episodes you instantly watch are included in your Netflix membership for no additional fee.

Whenever you want to instantly watch content on your iPhone, your iPhone must be connected to a Wi-Fi network (such as one you might have at home or at work, or in public places like coffee shops, book stores, hotels, airports, etc.)

If this functionality were available, how likely would you or someone in your household be to instantly watch movies & TV episodes on your iPhone via a Wi-Fi network?”

This would be incredible for Neflix and iphone users alike. Before my iphone was stolen over the summer, this was one app I was specifically asking for. I have taken the bus several times from DC-NY and back and there is Wifi on the bus. Granted it’s probably not strong enough to play a full movie streaming, but the fact that there is that chance would have been amazing. I bet there are others in similar situations, or maybe waiting at an airport that has free Wifi or just sitting in a park with Wifi that easily would take advantage of this.Very smart move on Netflix to take to the mobile mania that is existing. I’m glad to see this is one rumor that is slowly coming true. Now the question is will Apple allow Netflix to have an app. Allowing them to do so will invade their itunes space and hurt sales for Apple most likely. This will be interesting as things pick up and we can find more news about it.

What do you think of being able to stream movies and TV shows on a Netflix iphone App?

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Warner Bros Pressures Red Box Into Delaying New Releases

Posted by Craig Kessler on February 17, 2010 at 2:30 am

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Red Box is the latest victim to the pressures of Hollywood studio giant Warner Brothers. The shark just ate the little fish of Red Box and is making them delay the rental of new movie releases to 28 days later in order for the studio to try to sell more DVD’s in that time period. There have been rumors that Warner Brothers was going to force this type of deal with Red Box. Warner Brothers already delayed new movie releases with Netflix. The difference is Netflix is rapidly growing their online streaming movies and new releases is only about 30% of their movie rental service distributions. Many people like myself use the service more to find older and more obscure titles.

Red Box fully relies on new releases and fans of the service love how the kiosks can be found at local stores they normally shop at, and for only $1. Now with this deal, it will scare users away, really hurting the company big time. This is total crap. Warner Brothers is killing a quality and inexpensive service that customers love because it is trying to make more money by selling crappy DVD’s no one wants. People are getting smarter, and with so many rental options, itunes, and illegally downloading movies, why pay the money to own a crappy movie you will watch once and never again? Not worth it, DVD’s are dying. The only DVD’s I don’t mind getting are the classics you find in the $4.99 section in Best Buy. Other than that, I haven’t bought a new DVD in well over a year, and a lot of that has to do with Netflix. This deal will not make me buy DVD’s again, and it won’t change Red Box customers minds either. Sadly I wouldn’t be surprised if other Hollywood studios do the same type of deal.

Here’s what Warner Brothers had to say.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group and redbox today announced a new multi-year distribution agreement that will make Warner Bros. new release DVD and Blu-ray titles available to redbox customers after a 28-day window. The agreement also marks the end of the lawsuit that redbox filed against Warner Home Video in August 2009. Below is a copy of the press release with additional details.

What do you think of Warner Brothers bullying Red Box?

Comments : Post a Comment | Category : Movie News, Netflix | Tags : Netflix,Red Box,Warner Brothers

The Studios are Attacking the Little Man Red Box Now

Posted by Craig Kessler on February 9, 2010 at 2:30 am

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The movie rentalwar has always been seen as a 2 way battle between heavyweights Blockbuster and Netflix. But there is another up and comer who has made strides in the niche and has won over the hearts of many. Red Box releases movies from kiosks for $1 and can usually be found in many local grocery stores and Wal-Mart’s around the country. The low price and general convenience of having the kiosks where people generally shop anyways makes it easy to rent from without the cost of a monthly subscription.

Things may be changing though with Red Box. On February 1, 2010, Wal-Mart put a 5 limit cap on new release purchases at a time. This may make things very different for Red Box to keep new releases stocked in their kiosks. In the end, this could end up really hurting Red Box from succeeding in this large and very competitive industry, especially if more restrictions are made.

Why?

Studios are putting more pressure on rental companies to delay the release of new movies to rental services. Warner Brothers delayed new releases with Netflix for 28 days, and rumors are more studios will follow. With decreasing DVD sales, studios are looking for ways to boost sales. If rental companies are limited to the amount of new releases, especially in the kiosks, then the studios will end up lowering the selling price of DVD’s in an attempt to lure those customers into buying the DVD’s instead of waiting.

Personally I think that’s a load of crap and a small decrease in a DVD is not going to suddenly grab a consumers attention to make them buy it. Especially if they already have a movie subscription or love the convenience of the local kiosk in their grocery store. Why would a consumer spend close to $20 instead of just waiting a month and paying $1 at Red Box? They won’t.

But while a lot of people use Netflix to rent older movies with their huge selection, Red Box is mainly filled with the newest releases. Any restrictions could jeopardize the company and slowly push them into being extinct which would be bad for the consumer. Hopefully Rex box could push through and figure out a way to stay afloat and successful and grow their name in the marketplace.

Do you use Red Box? What do you think about the restrictions limit on new releases?

Comments : 2 Comments | Category : Movie Marketing, Movie News, Netflix | Tags : Netflix,Red Box

Youtube Beginning to Diversify and Offer Streaming Movie Rentals

Posted by Craig Kessler on January 22, 2010 at 4:38 pm

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Google owned Youtube is beginning to make moves in the streaming online video industry. Currently, leading online movie rental service Netflix is ahead with streaming movie rentals, but the space is going to get much more crowded.

Youtube, which may be the greatest invention of all time especially for procrastination at work is serious about this new venture. Normally we use Youtube to watch the latest adorable cat video, or some crazy new dance video, or some old ugly British woman singing the crap out of a song, but that may start to change.

On a limited basis, you can now stream 5 different movie to rent from the Sundance Film Festival using your Google Checkout account.

Last year Youtube talked with movie studios regarding the future of movie rental options on the site. They also are beginning to push HD video to make streaming on the big screen more worthwhile. All this will definitely hurt Netflix.

This is a great decision for Youtube who is struggling with a revenue model after Google spent $1.6 Billion to acquire the service. The ad system is not the same as it is for Google search, but licensed streaming video could be the way. Netflix is having huge success with their online streaming videos, so why shouldn’t Youtube? With Google running the show, price isn’t and option, and innovation always is welcomed. This would really make the industry very interesting, especially since Hulu is also talking about charging a monthly subscription for the service.

People may be pissed about these free services beginning to charge for some content, but I don’t think that will stop anyone. It will make things so much easier, and actually will end up hurting Apple as well. Why wait 2 hours to download a movie rental when you could just stream it right away? This is a great move from Youtube and I’m looking forward to see how this develops.

What do you think about Youtube movie rentals?

Comments : Post a Comment | Category : Movie Marketing | Tags : Netflix,Youtube

Netflix is Making Streaming Videos Available on the Wii

Posted by Craig Kessler on January 14, 2010 at 2:30 am

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Netflix right now is the stud intern who is making moves and getting his name around the office, except in reality, they are getting around the country. Netflix has been all over the place lately and has been making moves left and right with Warner Brothers, Microsoft, and Sony. They really are making themselves not just the number one online movie rental service, but a force to be reckon with.

It was just confirmed that Netflix made a deal with Nintendo where the Wii will be able to start streaming Netflix on the system coming this spring. Netflix already can stream on the Xbox360 and the PS3, but the wii will be bigger and here is why.

The Nintendo Wii is the fastest growing system in history, and just in December it sold over 3 million game consoles. That’s insane (especially for a system I personally think is nothing special). This means more exposure for Netflix on such a large user base.

To be able to use it you will have to insert a Netflix disc the same way you would a normal game. You have to pre-order the disc (for free) which will arrive in your mail in the spring, and you can get that here.

Even after the deal with Warner Brothers making customers wait 28 days before they can rent new movies, I still love Netflix and the direction they are going in. They are always working hard to improve the service and find new ways to offer the service to their customers on devices they use. Hell I can even see a deal being made with Apple at some point in the future as a way to stream movies on the iphone. Once that 4G or 5G get going, I don’t see why not. Wii owners out there must be happy, having the ability to stream from the console makes it so much easier to view the movie instead of connecting several wires to the TV.

Wii owners out there, let me know what you think?

Comments : 6 Comments | Category : Netflix | Tags : Netflix

28 Day Wait to Watch New Release Movie Rentals Through Netflix

Posted by Craig Kessler on January 12, 2010 at 2:30 am

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Netflix, the leading mail-in movie rental service that delivers millions of movies right to fans mailboxes every day, has recently formed a contract with Warner Brothers regarding its newest releases. Awhile back we announced how there was a deal in the works between Netflix and Warner Brothers regarding the newest movies. Well that deal has been set and now will go into effect for Netflix customers.

The details of the contract are that customers will now have to wait 28 days from the day of the movie DVD release before they can get them from Netflix. This may alter the renting experience for a lot of customers, some who may get very frustrated with the long wait and who could possibly be looking for other options. The benefit for the parties involved is that Warner Brothers wants customers to buy the expensive DVD’s in stores, benefiting the studio’s pockets, and in return will give Netflix a cheaper per unit price on discs. Essentially, it lowers Netflix’s overall costs of obtaining the discs from Warners Bro to rent out to me and you. From a business standpoint, I see how it makes sense. The only ones who may have an issue unfortunately are the customers, the ones paying Netflix these monthly fees. This will also give Netflix more incentive to tap into the digital streaming market, which has yet to be fully explored.

I completely understand why the companies did this because the ‘bottom-line’ is really all that matters. Honestly, I don’t think in the end customers will care at all. The reason is because it sometimes takes a long time to get a brand new DVD as it is. I am currently waiting to receive Inglourious Basterds from Netflix for close to 2 weeks now, but because there is a “very long wait,” it may be a full month before I get the movie to watch on blu-ray. Netflix only has so many DVDs in their warehouse and obviously the newest ones are have the most demand. In fact I think the big shots behind Netflix are cracking a bottle of bubbly on their yachts right now because they basically just made a boat-load of money for really not changing any of their policies. Customers are still going to have to wait for DVDs, and customers will not flee because Netflix is awesome. It’s completely changed how I watch movies, and I’m sure many more feel the same way.

With their ever growing online streaming video catalog and the ability to now utilize the service through the PS3 and soon to be Wii, if anything, they will only get more customers. This is a genius deal for Netflix, and a stupid one for Warner Brothers, who made a last ditch attempt to gain more DVD sales, in a slowly dying industry.

Viva la Netflix!

What do you think of the deal? Would this make you mad enough to leave Netflix?

Comments : 14 Comments | Category : Movie News, Netflix | Tags : Netflix

Netflix May Delay New Releases for 30 Days

Posted by Craig Kessler on November 16, 2009 at 2:30 am

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The popular movie rental service Netflix has been so successful that Hollywood may be taking a big axe on it to chop it down. Users pay for a monthly subscription and have the ability to rent an unlimited amount of movies without late fees. They choose from the enormous online library of movies and then receive them in the mail, and can mail them back to Netflix for free with express shipping. I have been a Netflix convert and love the system. The vast library allows me to see documentaries and independent movies that I never would have seen before. Netflix has been a huge reason to the demise of Blockbuster and Hollywood is feeling the affect.

Users aren’t buying DVD’s the same way they did before the service because they can just get them on Netflix, watch, and return to get the new latest movie. Well those days may be coming to an end. Hollywood execs have been in talks with Netflix to lower the price of the movies to the service if they will wait 30 days

before releasing brand new titles. This would try to then push fans to spend money they don’t need to spend on expensive DVD’s. This ultimately would cut costs by a lot for Netflix, but it also has the potential to lose a lot of customers.

This is another attempt for Hollywood to grease their way to make more money. And ultimately I don’t think it will work. The newest releases are in limited supply on Netflix and sometimes difficult to get. I have waited 30 days before trying to get a new release in the past, although Netflix has been better lately at getting movies out. I wouldn’t cancel my subscription, I also use the movie rental service to get a lot of movies I have not seen, not the big blockbusters I had already seen. A lot of users share my approach, and also with the online streaming abilities, they will not lose many users. DVD’s still are expensive and I have saved a lot of money from switching to Netflix opposed to buying DVD’s or renting from Blockbuster.

I believe Netflix will do this and as a company should because it will save them a lot of money. Hopefully the company can translate the savings and put a lot of it back into the company to help out the users.

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Comments : 5 Comments | Category : Netflix | Tags : Netflix

Netflix Streaming Video Coming to the PS3

Posted by Craig Kessler on October 29, 2009 at 2:30 am

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The PS3 is the ultimate entertainment system and includes great gaming, an exceptional blu ray player, and an all inclusive system where you can enjoy videos, pictures, music and more. It is my gaming system of choice as I personally own and enjoy the PS3. Others may differ but for me I have always been a Sony fan and think the PS3 is better than Xbox or the Wii. Where the Xbox recently had the PS3 though was with streaming video.

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Netflix, the online movie rental service has a deal with the Xbox and other devices where you could stream video onto the device.

Now you have the ability to stream video on the PS3.

Starting next month, PS3 users who are subscribers to Netflix will be able to stream video on the system. This is a huge boost for the already great system and now finally may make it the best overall entertainment system in the market. Of course it depends what you use the system for, but having streaming video at your hands makes the gaming system that much more deadly. Now Netflix doesn’t have every movie streaming and it could be difficult to find movies that stream sometimes, but it is so worth it. I don’t know what took Sony so long to get Netflix onto the system, but as a PS3 owner, who cares. Now we got it.

I have viewed multiple streaming movies from Netflix on my computer and now having the ability to do this through my PS3 will help so much. There have been several times where I have found a new movie I would like to just simply stream at hand and watch but since I did not want to watch it on my computer or go through the process of hooking up the wires to my TV I opted not to. Now with the ability to do so through the PS3, I will definitely be using this feature more. I already try to take advantage to the max of my 1 Unlimited DVD rental subscription I have with Netflix. Now when I’m waiting for my next movie to arrive in the mail, I can simply just stream a movie. This is great for Netflix, the PS3, and owners of both.

How do you feel about the PS3 finally being able to stream video? Why do you think Sony was late to the game?

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Comments : 5 Comments | Category : Movie News | Tags : Netflix

Netflix Going to Announce Second Big Contest

Posted by Craig Kessler on August 12, 2009 at 10:45 am

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