Comments on: Netflix sees Amazon entering DVD rentals

The company said it will cut prices for movie rentals to compete with competitors such as Blockbuster, Wal-Mart Stores and now Amazon.

[Earl Benser]

Who knows???

If we can get a few more players into the game, DVD's just might
rent for free !!

Seriously folks, this is the first chorus of the funeral march for
Netflix, or any other mail order operation. Blockbuster will eat
their lunch with their local stores and quick service.

And downloaded movies won't be worth the effort until the
movies are in the H-264 format. MPEG-2 files are just too big.

[Jonathan]

Doubtful

Those Blockbuster local stores aren't exactly setup well. Take for example this Blockbuster pass crap that tries to emulate Netflix. Some smuck can rent a local copy of something and keep it out for weeks on end. That's great. The prob is that....ITS OUT FOR WEEKS ON END. Netflix doesn't have this problem at all. At the end of the day I ended up going up the road to Hollywood video because they actually have the movies in stock that I want to watch. BBuster can't have it both ways. If they try they will fail at both.

[lewissalem]

Yes netflix will die...

...unless they change their business model. Tivo is another company in trouble. When people start buying more media center living room PC's, there will be no need to pay a subscription fee for a simple TV listing. I'm assuming they make no money on the hardware.

[dejo]

Suggestions?

Any ideas on how Netflix might want to change their business
model in order to survive?

Also, I believe the "media center PC" will never be more than a
niche product. Consumers prefer a device that is dedicated to
the specific task and good at it, not something that contains a
general operating system that is ok (at best) in multiple tasks
but not great in any of them. The ability to record TV, for
example, was available on PCs before Tivo arrived on the scene,
and yet, Tivo still built a market share. I think many consumers
do not want to pay the extra expense for one device that does
tasks they probably won't want but rather purchase a cheaper
device that fulfills a simpler need.