As mentioned in From the Business Desk
In view of Raev's information that the costs associated with streaming are likely to skyrocket in the next few years, do you think this is a wise move? If you have Netflix, what are you going to do?
I, personally, am going to drop the DVD by mail option. We use the streaming more anyway. I think if Netflix is trying to get MORE money from their customers, they just blew it. I was paying $2 more a month for a feature I didn't hardly use. Seriously, I get one DVD by mail every 90 days on average. Now, I'm more likely to use Redbox or my public library. It's easier than waiting three days for the next disc.
A better move would have been to have increased my charge incrementally. It's not that I CAN'T pay $16 per month. Rather, it's that their marketing makes it seem that I'm losing value here. So, now they have a disgruntled customer who will pay them less for what she is already getting. BAD MOVE. Honestly, it's like the frog in boiling water thing and I probably would have agreed to $16 dollars per month if the fee went up in $2 increments over 18 months instead. They need a new marketing department.
Secondly, if what the CNN Money article that Raev quoted is true, then I think the studios are making a big mistake.
[Damn it! How can I get the code to stop including all the following text on the same line? That's annoying.]
Back to what I was saying: if licensed streaming costs are going to go up that much for the providers (ten times? really?) in the next year or two, those costs are definitely going to have to be reflected in the cost to the consumer which will, in turn, increase the impetus for the average consumer to pirate those films.
What do you think?