WARNING: this is may be or may be not a rant
WARNING: this may or may be not a “conspiracy theory”
NetFake
Ok, I just canceled my Netflix service. I had it all of three short months.
How many movies did I watch?
ZERO!
Why?
There was nothing worth watching! For real!
Ok, here’s the deal: I signed up for the one DVD at a time plan. The real reason why I signed up for it was because they advertised that for $8.99 a month I could access and watch as many new releases movies online (TV or computer) as I wanted to. I really didn’t care about having to wait for the DVDs to arrive, however quick the service might be. The real appealing idea was to be able to get online, select a movie that I’ve missed on theaters recently (I have a kid at home and if you do too, then you know how hard is to catch the latest releases on the big screen) and watch it immediately on my laptop in bed or on the TV.
Ok, you say…”but they have hundreds of movies that you can ‘watch now’!”. Yes, they do. But what part of “new releases” didn’t you get? Go to the previous paragraph and read it again. This time, slowly!
Here’s a screenshot of their “New movies to watch instantly.” Go ahead, take a look… I’ll wait
New releases?
So? What do you think? Did you see any “new releases”? And by new releases I mean movies that have been in the theaters recently, NOT “new releases” as in straight-to-DVD release.
For all of 2009 they have 19 movies. Go ahead count them…
Do you see any “hits”? Anything that’s gonna make you wanna run to make some pop-corn?
Didn’t think so.
So that, in short form, is why I canceled the service. It didn’t provide the “service” that it said that it would. It was misleading and because I’m the one paying, I choose not to do business with misleading businesses.
Now, to say something positive (before really slamming Netfake) about them: Their account cancelation process was one of the smoothest ones that I’ve had online in al long, long time. And so far I haven’t received any annoying “please come back” calls, thought I don’t think I’ll be disappointed!
So, it could all end here. I tried the service, they didn’t delivered, I keep my money.
But it won’t…
After canceling I started thinking (Yes, I know… funny. Just one of those exercises that I like to do from time to time to find out if the Alzheimer’s is kicking in yet or not!).
So I thought… (Nope, no Alzheimer’s yet!)
How come I can get a lot more new releases on Comcast on-demand but not on Netfak…ok, I’ll be nice just this once…Netflix? I mean, come on… Netflix must have 4:1 ration of movies over Comcast, at least. So it’s not a lack of movies. No, it has to be something else.
Well, one reason why Comcast has a lot of new movies on-demand is because they don’t have a DVD delivery/distribution channel like Netfake does. Nor should they. They are in the business of Cable TV, so that’s fine for them.
Netfake HAS the movies (I know because they are available on DVD) and HAS the technology to stream them directly to me (I know because THAT’S THE SERVICE THEY ADVERTISE!)
So how come they don’t do it? It can’t be cost. It cost the same to stream a one hour forty minutes bad movie as it does a new one (also Netflix offers to stream HD movies, so bandwidth is not an issue).
Ok, you guys ready for the “conspiracy theory” part?
They are using the “watch instantly” product as a kind of”loss leader“, with the added functionality that by not making new releases (the ones that you actually want to watch) available for streaming over the TV or computer they are hopping it will motivate customers to sign up for a “larger” DVDs per month package, so they can get the latest movies. They make more money by sending DVDs to your home than they do by streaming them.
Think (you need to check for Alzheimer’s too)… If you could watch as many truly great new releases for $8.99 a month as you want to, they’d go out of business. If you could truly watch all the “new releases” on-line, unlimited, for $8.99 then no one would ever upgrade to get more DVDs at the time delivered (‘cos lets face it… we live in America. Why get one DVD in the mail at the time, when you can get 3, 4, 5, etc?). No big DVDs per month packages, no great revenue.
So, the solution? Control, without saying it of course, how many movies your customers really may want to “watch” online. How? Simple, offer the “lesser” quality movies online, and keep the best ones for the delivery service (which of course, makes more money for them)!
You see, someone, somewhere inside Netfake’s belly figure out that many people might sign up for the $8.99 package (for what they ‘advertise’ it as, is a great value) initially but that after seeing the “poor” selection, they’d want to “upgrade” their accounts to get a “better” selection. Caching, caching, caching… all the way to the bank!
The problem with this “business model”, OTHER than being dishonest, is that it opens the door big and wide for another competitor (Comcast and Apple come to mind – major problem: COST. Comcast charges anywhere from $3.99 to $6.99 per movie, and Apple’s pricing isn’t too different. Also, I wouldn’t be too surprise to see Google or Amazon give it a go and Oh boy! If either one of those two companies want it, I don’t think there’s much Netflix, Comcast or Apple could do to stop them or even slow them down – but if Comcast and/or Apple could drop the prices to $1 or so, Netflix would be out of business over night!). May be the guys running Netfake haven’t noticed or heard about something called “cloud computing“, or noticed the fact that the cost for online storage and bandwidth are dropping even faster than house prices in the Bay Area (I know bad joke, I own a house here!). So why? Why when everything is moving online, set your business up to keep it the old and slow way (after all, I could watch, God… I don’t know… over 12 movies BEFORE the next DVD arrives. Oh, wait… right…. there are NO good movies to “watch instantly”!). Well, I don’t know but also don’t care to find out. I’m sure that the other companies mentioned above are just drooling at the opportunity!
So there you have it. Why I closed my (I’ll be nice one more time) Netflix account and why I’d never go back!
And, please! Don’t call yourself “Net” anything when you still rely on snail mail for your business!
Now, I have to go download a “new release” from TPB! 
