Posted on 10/24/2011 4:58:51 PM PDT by skully
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Netflix's video subscription service lost 800,000 customers in the third quarter —the biggest exodus in its history— even as its earnings rose 65 percent.
The losses were larger than management had previously warned. The unwelcome surprise, contained in financial results released Monday, was compounded by a forecast calling for millions of Netflix Inc.'s DVD-by-mail subscribers to cancel the service in reaction to dramatic price increase that took effect last month.
The bad news bruised already battered stock as the shares plunged by more than 26 percent.
(Excerpt) Read more at tuscaloosanews.com ...
Apropos of nothing, Netflix has the worst commercials currently on radio. The fake game show meme is so tired and worn it is one of the few ads I turn off as soon as I hear it begin.
With the "upgrade" now the interface on the BluRay player allows "surfing" of all their selections. You can controls on the ratings, but a lot of their kids stuff doesn't have a rating and get blocked if you put a "G only" restriction on your account. When you restrict, you restrict all your devices as well. I like the old setup better.
I just double checked, Dish bought them on April 6th.
nope I am WRONG sorry
Netflix also had a non-mentioned problem with Microsoft Silverlight that refused to allow many Mac users to watch streaming videos.
All it took for me was a call to netflix and the problem was solved which in turn caused me to return to Netflix.
What is Netflix?
Roll Tide!
Wow. From trading at 300 a share in July to 85 a share tonight, post earnings announcement. The market is a harsh mistress.
So am I.
Heartless Netflix customers...
Is the genius that hatched that plan still working for them?
And thanks for reminding me. I took my account off 'vacation' and canceled.
Well, you know, doubling your prices tends to do that.
I’m leaving as soon as I find that stupid disc lost somewhere in my room.
Are we sure that mac daddy is not involved in this ripoff?
We dropped it when they jacked up the rates, but then broke down and bought a Roku box and renewed our service with them. I love it - I travel a lot and watch shows and movies on my laptop or iphone all the time, plus at home we're into Downton Abbey, Midsomer Murders, and Red Dwarf, as well as other Brit programming I was introduced to while over there. So what, they don't have new releases - they've got great documentaries including ALL of the American Experience shows as well as classic TV and that's enough to keep wifey and me occupied for a long time. We have Dishnetwork too, and with the Roku box we have Crackle and other options we haven't even had time to start exploring yet. $80 for the box and $8 a month is fine with me.
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http://www.tvpredictions.com/netflixstock102611.htm
Netflix’s stock plunged 35 percent yesterday after the company reported that it lost 800,000 subscribers in the third quarter due to a price increase.
The one-day freefall means that Netflix’s stock has now lost roughly 75 percent in the last four months; the company lost 40 percent in the four months after it announced a new pricing plan in July.
At yesterday’s close, Netflix’s stock stood at $77.37, compared to July when it was trading over 300.
The company, which had predicted that it would lose 600,000 subs in the third quarter, finished the quarter with 23.8 million subscribers. However, Netflix says more losses could be coming in the fourth quarter and many analysts and investors evidently agree.
Some industry observers yesterday were questioning whether Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, the architect behind the new pricing structure, could stay on if the company’s fortunes don’t change and soon.
“The company no longer earns the benefit of the doubt,” Wall Street analyst Tony Wible told Reuters yesterday. “Netflix has revealed a lot about how it cares about investors and customers through its actions. I think it would be wrong to say it cares about those people.”
The company’s wobbly fortunes began in July when Netflix announced a new pricing structure for streaming and disc rentals. The company now does not offer its popular $9.99-a-month plan allowing subscribers to stream videos and rent one DVD at a time. Instead, you now have to pay $15.98 a month to keep the combination of the unlimited streaming option and the one DVD at a time rental plan.
Your other choice is to pay $7.99 a month for the one DVD at a time plan (plus an extra $2 a month for Blu-ray rentals) OR $7.99 a month for the unlimited streaming plan. But you can not use both features with that option.
I went to streaming only for now. They pissed me off too and I have been renting DVD’s from them since they started back in the 90’s.
I really wanted to use the streaming (and that’s what Netflix wants you to do too), but I found their selection of titles so poor that I had trouble finding something to watch.
So when Netflix doubled their prices, I dropped them. I now use VUDU to stream PPV movies occasionally. The VUDU prices are a bit high, but OTOH, you can actually choose recent-run movies that Netflix simply does not offer. I am probably paying more money some months with VUDU, but I am watching the movies that I want to watch, and I’m only paying when I do watch - not a monthly fee.
The VUDU app runs in both my Internet-enabled TV and Blu-Ray player. It is really solid, and streams HD content with very high quality and no interruptions. I also tried the Amazon video player app, but found that it bombed out 5 or 6 times every time you watch a movie, so for now I am sticking with VUDU.
The CEO has his head up his ass. Red Box just raised its price to $1.20, saw the headline around here, can’t find it. But weird coincidence, huh?
Aren't all the suits thinking that their customers ALL have access to great internet connections, especially for home use?
I have expensive, slow satellite streaming with a cap on how much I use. Am I so very alone? Now the kids at the university in the next town have fabulous, cheap internet. But they pirate all their movies!!
So I have always thought Netflix had a great business model. I put my used DVD in the mailbox on Tuesday at 4:30 and get a notice Wednesday morning that the newest is on the way. I marvel at how this works. It's great.
It always me to choose blu-ray for an action movie and pay a little extra, and get the regular kind of DVD for other movies and not pay extra. Does streaming do that?
Look at their library of movies! They even have lots of gay and lesbian stuff for the huge audience that wants it. True, they don't have "Media Malpractice" or "Fireproof" or a lot of conservative-interest movies...but that's because there are so few conservatives. (They may have the two movies I mentioned, but just try to rent them...)
Their bias is a problem for me. And I think that's part and parcel of the mindset of Netflix that caused the executives to SCREW IT UP so royally. They're progressives and progressives are stupid.
Listening, CEO?
Fire the whole top brass, get somebody smart who didn't go to Harvard and I think Netflix will be fine. I invested in Netflix in the early stages and cleaned up.
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