Netflix’s announcement that they will separate their DVD and streaming services has created a frenzy of negative feedback among customers and financial analysts alike.
Reed Hastings, Netflix Co-Founder and CEO, recently announced the split in an email to subscribers and in a blog post on the company’s website. He included an apology for the way that the company has handled the separation of the services and the recent pricing changes.
Over 26,000 comments were posted on the company’s corporate blog in response. The common theme was not a supportive one.
“I think it’s a lot more expensive and I’ll probably still keep using Netflix, but I think it’s not a good thing for their relationship with their customers,” said Ennis Barbery, a first year graduate student in Applied Anthropology.
The uproar began in July when Netflix began charging DVD-by-mail customers a separate fee for streaming videos online. The DVD-by-mail service will be run under a separate company called Qwikster. According to Hastings, the website will provide the same DVD service that customers are used to.
Netflix will be for streaming only. Each service costs at least $8 a month, which is a 60% price hike for people who continue using both services. The two websites will not be integrated, so customers will have to manage separate accounts for the two services.
Not everyone thinks that the split is such a bad idea.
“Every time I would go through their website, I would try and watch a movie and I couldn’t because it was DVD only,” said junior Economics major Andres Amabor. “So having one section that’s only streaming is nice because then you know exactly what you can get.”
Netflix Inc. stock has gone down 55 percent since July and many market watchers believe more customers would drop the service after the latest announcement, according to The Associated Press.
As a new addition, a video game upgrade option will be available to those who subscribe to the Qwikster service. Customers will have the ability to rent Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 games.
The split is expected to occur within the next few weeks.