Netflix plans on charging a premium on accounts that rent Blu-ray movies because, well, the discs cost more. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings reasoned on a conference call that “consumers are used to paying more for high-definition.” Netflix had been offering both HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs to subscribers for no additional charge until Netflix stopped carrying HD DVDs in February.
Hastings also announced that they plan to bring their “Watch Now” feature to set-top boxes. The Watch Now feature allows subscribers to instantly watch more than 8,000 movies on demand on their PC. Because the worst part of Netflix is having to wait for the movie you just ordered to arrive in the mail. Digital on demand downloads are clearly the future, and a subscription model is the best way to do it. CNET reports that “in addition to the initial partnership with LG, Netflix plans to pair up with two additional major companies, and one additional small company.” Rumor has it that these new partnerships might include Xbox 360, Tivo, Apple TV and Slingbox. Right now Netflix does not have an Apple option for their “Watch Now” feature, so it would be cool if one of the other boxes in my apartment could be updated to work with the service.
Discuss: Are you be willing to pay more to rent Blu-Ray movies through Netflix?
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Don’t BR discs generally cost more to manufacture than regular DVD’s?
If anyone remembers when Netflix first launched, it was just like this. They started off with a fairly high price and then proceeded to lower their costs as popularity rose.
As for me, I’m still a devout regular DVD guy. I’ll wait another 10 years when they come out with a format I want to upgrade to.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I don’t have a blu-ray player or an HDTV but that’s pretty shady to start charging to rent them if they’ve already been available for free. I use netflix and if they partnered with Apple I’d be more than happy. I use a mac and have no way to take advantage of the Watch Online service that I’m paying for. If they do not partner with Apple they should at least offer mac users the option to remove that offer at a reduction of their monthly rate.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Netflix partnering with Apple would be a terrible move.
But I don’t see that happening since Netflix is in talks right now to distribute their catalog through the Xbox 360’s online service.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:45 pm
The whole reason I joined Netflix was because Blu-ray discs werent any more than regular. Now I’m wondering when I will be cancelling my subscription there. I left Hollywood Video because of this same thing.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:55 pm
So are they going to start charging less for value-priced DVD’s? If their reasoning to charge more for Blu-Ray is because it costs more, then they need to lower the price for cheap movies too.
If they start to do this, I probably won’t be renting Blu-ray any more from Netflix. I’ll stick to buying them. Usually the blu-rays I rent from netflix are the ones I don’t care what quality they are in, because I buy the ones I really want in blu-ray.
So I say, lame.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Captain: It’s not really that type of partnership. Basically these devices would be able to use your netflix subscription to stream movies. Microsoft or Apple would not have any control over costs or anything, they would be just opening up their hardware to allow for subscribers to access stream-able films.And as I said, right now the hardware rumored to be involved in this new partnership is Tivo, XBox, AppleTv and Slingbox, which would fit in with the three big hardware manufactures and one small one claim that the Netflix CEO made.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:05 pm
I might agree to pay a bit more for Blu Ray if Netflix makes more copies available. I’ve been waiting for The Assassination of Jesse James… on Blu Ray for 2 months and In The Valley of Elah and American Gangster on Blu Ray both for over a month.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:24 pm
ColKurtz: American Gangster has not been released on Blu yet, so you will be waiting a while. It was by Universal who just announced their new Blu plans since HD-DVD died.
Jesse James, great movie, you can can even just rent the regular DVD, WB really dropped the ball on the transfer :(
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Are you really going to cry over a couple extra dollars a month for unlimited blu-ray? Increase the stock and it would be plenty worth it. Woody, you are going to cancel your subsciption to save a couple bucks so you can spend hundreds buying them?
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:35 pm
it all depends on how much more they are charging for it. If it is like an additional $3 a month then sure … once I get a Blu player
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Jake, I never said I would cancel my account. I will just rent on DVD instead. And just buy the Blu-rays that I want to be in HD.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Point taken Peter.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:51 pm
mike: Haha…totally read my queue wrong. Jesse James and Elah are the 2 I’ve been waiting for.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I too started a Netflix account solely for the purpose of renting Blu-Ray. While Blu-Ray costs more, they also include a protective surface, making the discs last longer, so I’d think it should be a wash. I only rent Blu-Ray and if they start to charge me more for renting them, I will make it very clear that the reason I was canceling my account with them is their premium charge for Blu-Ray. I previously never rented DVDs… I’d always just buy them. It was due to the cost of rental being slightly less for unlimited rental time that I even considered Netflix. I’ll just start purchasing more discs instead of renting my Blu-Ray. I currently own about 500 DVDs and 30 Blu-Ray. I’ve had my PS3 since October (primarily for the purpose of being a Blu-Ray player). I change movies with Netflix 1-2 times a month. For the monthly service fee, I could nearly buy 1 movie a month and I’ll have it forever. I don’t watch a lot, but I want quality when I DO watch.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Know what they should do?
Stop alienating a pretty large chunk of customers and make “Watch It Now” available on Macs.
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:22 pm
they can definitely afford to keep the price the same.
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:33 pm
1. This whole cost dissue is a game of invisible numbers anyway. There is nothing in the production cost of a blu-ray disc that warrants an expensive price-tag to begin with…
yes, no matter what they tell you. The TV’s are expensive not the plastic discs people.
2. Netflix gets dirt bottom prices by buying films in bulk. I don’t see why I should have to shell out more because one format is going obsolete.
2b. (aside from renting them do they expect us to pay $30up for blu-ray forever? Do they think we are retards here? The answer is yes, yes they do think you’re retarded.)
3. Will netflix lower the cost when blu-ray becomes the norm?
I will pass on blu-ray w/ my account until they re-adjust the price. This so called buyer privilege to use hi-def is just a big f*cking ruse.
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:15 pm
IF that is the case i’m going to blockbuster… i have no loyalty to either rental service
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:30 am
I think that a blu-ray is a poor investment. I’m sticking to Netflix because of there instant watch program. I was laughing at the format war, because streaming video is the future.
April 25th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
I disagree about streaming being the video of the future. First off, while I happen to have excellent bandwidth (20Mbps/20Mbps) I’m in a fairly rare group. Download services are going to keep compression rates high to reduce bandwidth demands. I’ve seen HD from Vudo and while it is better than DVD, it is nowhere as good as Blu-Ray. Even if I were to use my ENTIRE bandwidth to stream a HD movie, it will be more compressed than Blu-Ray. I agree that there will be a market for streaming video, but it is a different market than Blu-Ray. One is for cheap viewing of movies with a wide selection, the other is for quality. I for one care more for quality than quantity. I know this may not be the largest market, but it is a decent-size market.
April 27th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Streaming vid is the future when everyone has broadband and I can get to watch full 1080p movies with 5.1 or 7.1 uncompressed sound plus the ability to borrow and exchange movies with my friends…