Netflix Offers $7.99 Streaming-Only Plan, Raises Prices On Existing Plans

Will you be switching plans?

  • Yes

    Votes: 4 19.0%

  • No

    Votes: 8 38.1%

  • Don't use Netflix

    Votes: 9 42.9%
  • Total voters
    21
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Gared

Gared

See, I didn't have an issue with this when they announced it/emailed me about it, but now I'm seriously starting to consider canceling altogether. What, exactly, new content are they suddenly making available for streaming? I caught up with Bones, re-watched Angel and BtVS, recently finished watching Psych, and went out looking for something to watch/re-watch tonight and found jack shit to watch instantly. Magnum P.I., which I previously watched all of except the last season, no longer available for streaming. Air Wolf, no longer available for streaming. Knight Rider (the original), no longer available for streaming. Miami Vice, no longer available for streaming. My fiance and I went through just about every TV show we could think of to watch, and none of them are available all of a sudden. Well, it's the holiday season, how about some Christmas movies/TV shows... not available for streaming (except for An All Dogs Christmas Special and the 1950s era Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer). Ok... well... how about some sports comedies? They're down to one page of movies and I've never even heard of any of them - and I loves me my sports comedies. How about some late night comedies (aka, raunchy comedy)? Well, there's about 7 pages of that, but again, none of the good stuff. Can't even find a decent National Lampoon's flick - aside from some weird titles I've never heard of.

In fact, I just checked my "Instant Queue" and 16 titles have been removed from the queue because they're no longer available. None of them were titles I listed above. Hell, for that matter, checking my "Watch it Again" section, it's gone down from 14 pages to 6. So... are they going to up their rates so they can offer us the content that was previously available again, or are they actually offering new content? More, is the new content they're going to be offering worth watching?
 
strawman

strawman

Chances are good that with the success of streaming they have to renegotiate their rates with the content providers. The contracts they previously had probably expired. Given that they knew this was happening when they changed their rates, I would have expected them to make the new rates match what they would owe to stream the material.

I'd be surprised, however, if they didn't introduce a tiered streaming rate sometime next year, so that they can pay some content providers more than the really cheap properties.

But if I were you I'd contact them and complain. Make sure they know this directly impacts you, and ask for a specific answer whether they are coming back (and when) or if they are not going to be able to stream those shows in the future.

Also, keep in mind that they are switching CDNs right now, so it may be that they are doing it poorly. This should be done by January, though.
 
evilmike

evilmike

I started Netflix Instant about a month ago, and I've noticed that it's generally a great service to browse through to find something to watch, but virtually every time I actively go looking for something, it's "DVD only". It doesn't matter if it's a release from last year, a cartoon box set, or a classic movie. Nine times out of ten, if I actively seek it out, it won't be available online. Anyone else have this experience?

Also, I wanted to make sure everyone knew about queuenoodle. It exists to warn everyone when something is going to expire from Instant service. I just finished watching "King of Kong", which expires on the 28th. (If you haven't seen it, it's a great documentary / character study about Donkey Kong world records and the people who make them.)
 
Tress

Tress

evilmike said:
I started Netflix Instant about a month ago, and I've noticed that it's generally a great service to browse through to find something to watch, but virtually every time I actively go looking for something, it's "DVD only". It doesn't matter if it's a release from last year, a cartoon box set, or a classic movie. Nine times out of ten, if I actively seek it out, it won't be available online. Anyone else have this experience?
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I've had the exact thing happen to me time and again. I don't personally subscribe to Netflix, but many times I've been at a friend's house who does. They always ask people what they want to watch, and after searching we almost always find out its DVD only. Nothing ever seems to be available for streaming.
 
SpecialKO

SpecialKO

It's a bit of a tossup, IMO. I've had pretty good luck looking for something specific, but I've had friends complain about streaming availability.
 
strawman

strawman

I've found maybe 20-30% of the stuff I'm actively looking for on instant play. When I see something that's dvd only, I just add it to my queue and keep looking.

I can always find something interesting on instant play, though. If I want to watch something specific, I just have to plan ahead.
 
J

Jiarn

I actually use it to find new stuff I wouldn't have given a chance to otherwise. I browse the available streaming titles and end up 4/5 times finding something new that I enjoyed watching and share with others.
 
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