After more than two months without a word to irate customers, Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings posted an entry on the company’s blog to break the silence.
The post offered an explanation for the price increase that took effect Sept. 1 and announced the end of the Netflix DVD-by-mail service and the beginning of a new business, Qwikster.
Hastings said in the post that he focused too much on maintaining Netflix’s original DVD-by-mail service instead of focusing on what customers were demanding – online streaming.
He said he should have focused more on providing quality content for Netflix’s online service.
After 10 years of operating the business, Hastings said he has concluded that the movie streaming and DVD-by-mail services are two separate businesses and should be treated as such. He announced a new name – Qwikster – that would be used for Netflix’s DVD by mail plan.
Hastings said Qwikster will also offer video games, a service Netflix users have requested for years.
“Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to,” Hastings said in the blog. “It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies.”
He said Netflix will remain the official name and website of the online streaming service.
The websites for Netflix and Qwikster will not be integrated, Hastings said, meaning members will have to maintain two separate accounts. For example, if a member needs to change his or her address they must change it at both websites, and two different charges — one from each site — will show up on a credit card bill.
In his blog post, Hastings said separating the services into two different websites will make things simpler, as users only have to focus on a specific aspect – streaming or DVDs – at each website.
Some University students who use Netflix were upset about the changes.
Landscape architecture freshman Sydney Melhado subscribes to Netflix’s instant movie plan. She contemplated adding the DVD plan from time to time when the movies she looked for weren’t available for instant viewing, but Melhado said she wouldn’t consider getting Qwikster now because two separate accounts are too much of a hassle.
Rachael Morrison, sociology freshman, said she liked the old process better. Morrison is upset that customers now must subscribe and manage two different website accounts.
She said she liked that she could previously find and watch the movies that were available online and then rent the movies that weren’t available through the mail without having to navigate multiple websites.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” she said.
Joseph Butler, computer science sophomore, said Netflix’s troubles began before this most recent uproar.
“I think they messed up the first time when they did the price changes,” he said.
Butler said he thinks the company made the right move in separating the two services because DVDs will eventually die out, leaving online streaming as the most popular form of movie delivery.
Butler said he hasn’t been a Netflix customer since before the announcement of the rate increase in July, and he would consider subscribing to other services such as Hulu over Netflix.
Butler said he likes that Hulu offers a wider selection of television programs than Netflix.
Business sophomore Randall Oustalet and political science sophomore Tristan Souness-Wilson said they don’t even bother with a Netflix subscription.
Oustalet said he thinks Redbox is more convenient and only costs $1 per movie. He said he has never had a problem with Redbox.
Souness-Wilson said he doesn’t watch enough movies to justify paying Netflix subscription fees.
 
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Contact Kevin Thibodeaux at [email protected]