[low.pfile]

At Nexflix, the introductory $1 extra for BluRay discs was a value, now they a charging $5 extra.
I recall at Block Buster that in-store BluRay rentals are the same price as regular DVDs. Regular Block Buster users, is that correct? What about their via mail pricing?

I just saw "Cadillac Records" on BR from Netflix and glad I did.

BTW, I just looked at my Queue and of the next 10 movies only 2 are available on BR. So I estimate that about 20-30% of my movies would be available on BR. New releases are usually not my priority.

email received 03/30/09:

Dear Edward,

You are receiving this email because you added unlimited Blu-ray access to your account for $1 a month. The number of Blu-ray titles has increased significantly and will continue to do so. As we buy more, you are able to choose from a rapidly expanding selection of Blu-ray titles. And as you've probably heard, Blu-ray discs are substantially more expensive than standard definition DVDs.

As a result, the monthly charge for Blu-ray access is increasing for most plans and will now vary by plan. The charge for monthly Blu-ray access on your 4 DVDs at-a-time (Unlimited) plan will increase from $1 a month to $5 a month. The price of your 4 DVDs at-a-time (Unlimited) plan is not changing and remains at $23.99 a month.

The new charge for Blu-ray access will be automatically added to your next billing statement on or after April 27, 2009 and will be referenced in your Membership Terms and Details.

If you wish to continue unlimited Blu-ray access for $5 a month, you don't need to do anything. If not, you can remove Blu-ray access anytime by visiting Your Account.

If you have questions about this change or need any assistance, please call us anytime at 1-888-923-0898.

-The Netflix Team

[JoshK]

On Bloomberg, I thought I saw that the $1/month extra for the two at a time service was increasing to $3 and the highest service option an extra $9/month.  The $3 extra/month puts it equal to the BB mail rental which I subscribe to. 

[Airborn]

I recall at Block Buster that in-store BluRay rentals are the same price as regular DVDs.

Yeah that's true for both BB and my brick and mortar store, Hollywood Video (I hate BB) that BluRay rentals are the same as standard DVDs.  I just joined NetFlix in part for the BD rentals, so this is bad timing for me.

[low.pfile]

over at a netflix blog there was better information. The BR increase is relative to your plan:

from http://blog.netflix.com/

Monday, March 30, 2009
Price update for access to Blu-ray movies
Hi, Jessie Becker here, VP of Marketing, with a message for our members who have added Blu-ray access to their accounts. This message does not apply to you if you have not added Blu-ray access to your account.

The number of titles available for us to purchase on Blu-ray has increased significantly. Our Blu-ray selection has grown more than 60% in just 6 months to over 1,300 titles, and is continuing to expand quickly. Blu-ray adoption among our members has also grown – it’s now close to 10%. As we buy more, you are able to choose from a rapidly expanding selection of Blu-ray titles. And as you’ve probably heard, Blu-ray discs are substantially more expensive than standard definition DVDs – often as much as 30% more.

We’re committed to providing a high quality Blu-ray experience for our members who choose to add Blu-ray access, and in order to do that we need to adjust Blu-ray pricing. As a result, the monthly charge for Blu-ray access is increasing for most plans and will now vary by plan.

If you have added Blu-ray access to your account, this change will take effect on your next billing date on or after April 27, 2009. You will also receive an email from us letting you know the monthly charge for your plan. (Members who do not have Blu-ray access today and add it to their account in the future will see the new prices as of today.)

To avoid any confusion, here are the charges for each of the plans.

1 DVD out at-a-time (2 DVDs a month)
Monthly plan cost: $4.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $1
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $5.99

1 DVD out at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $8.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $2
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $10.99

2 DVDs out at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $13.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $3
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $16.99

3 DVDs out at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $16.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $4
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $20.99

4 DVDs out at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $23.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $5
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $28.99

5 DVDs out at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $29.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $6
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $35.99

6 DVDs out at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $35.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $7
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $42.99

7 DVDs out at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $41.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $8
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $49.99

8 DVDs out at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $47.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $9
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $56.99

If you don’t want to pay the additional charge for monthly access to Blu-ray, simply remove Blu-ray access on your account before April 27, 2009. Thanks.
Jessie

They should have added that info in their email to customers.

For my 4-at-a-time plan that's $1.25 per disc. To bad only 25% of my queue are BR.

[low.pfile]

I recall at Block Buster that in-store BluRay rentals are the same price as regular DVDs.

Yeah that's true for both BB and my brick and mortar store, Hollywood Video (I hate BB) that BluRay rentals are the same as standard DVDs.  I just joined NetFlix in part for the BD rentals, so this is bad timing for me.

Thanks Airborn!

I wonder how they rationalize that? or are we likely to see BR in-store rentals increase too?

[Airborn]

Not sure how the economics work out for the brick and mortar rental chains charging the same for BD as DVDs.  I am tempted to say they overcharge so much for rentals in the first place (approx. $4.75 for 3 nights at Hollywood Video) that they can absorb the extra cost of BD for the relatively small selection (mostly new releases) they have on hand.  That was the main reason for my joining NetFlix in the first place.

[rahimlee54]

Now there is no advantage to joining NF when Blockbuster has instore retruns for practically the sameprice, although it is only 1-5 a month, depending on the plan unless you go unlimited.

[JoshK]

Someone should remind NF that we are in a global recession and consumers are becoming more frugal in their spending habits.  Increasing prices doesn't seem like the wisest thing to do given the times were in.

[mjosef]

I got the Netflix email with the notice today. Doesn't affect me since I don't do blu'. And if I did, I would probably downgrade my level(movies at home) to offset the price increase... because of this economy, some costs they might have absorbed in the past will have to be passed on to the end user.
I wouldn't want to be paying more to subsidize the blu-ers. Its not a Dvd its BluR, it costs more, so they should charge more.

[Tyson]

Dang, my $41/month plan just went to $49/month.

[ajzepp]

It's not that I *like* price increases, but I get such a tremendous value out of my Netflix subscriptions (since 2002) that it would take more than a few dollars extra per month to change that. To think what I'd be spending at BB or Hollywood to get the same number of rentals, not to mention the convenience of having them delivered to within 20' of my front door (new releases available to me each Tuesday before BB even opens its doors), just continues to keep me a loyal customer. Love me some Netflix!

[launche]

I would hope with the price increase they get more stock.  I would hate to pay extra and still have long wait times to get Blu-ray discs which I heard is the case for many people.  I was going to upgrade to Blu-ray until I heard of the wait times and figured why bother.  Even now I can't get most new release DVD's for weeks, even months.  Sometimes I feel like they send me whatever they want.  Over the years I've added so much stuff to my list while I wait for new releases.  They just sent me Babylon A.D. today and that was released in early January I believe.  I would say my wait time for new releases is probably about a month on average (I must be on their black list or something  All in all, I think that's rather subpar for the premier online service.  I will be glad when the streamline a high quality set top box option that accesses the majority of their catalog. Shuffling these DVD's is getting old, beam me my movie already (don't tell the USPS I said that  )

[Philistine]

3 DVDs out at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $16.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $4
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $20.99

This is similar to the BB plan I have, the only difference is that there are 5 in-store movies allowed with BB.  The in-store movies used to be on top of the rentals (when you returned the envelope to the store this allowed you to take an in-store movie and it triggered off the next movie to be mailed to you).  This has now stopped and the in-store movie counts as the next in line, which equates to an effective elimination of the in-store benefit.  The cost of this plan is $19.95 so it's a $1 cheaper than Netflix.  However, I see that BB have increasingly less movies available and are slowing down their turnaround time, I'm sure they'll be pushing a price increase soon.  On this basis my recommendation would be to stick with Netflix.

In my business I have 2 vendor options to choose from, one is increasing rates and cutting back their service while the second is dropping rates and improving service.  It doesn't take rocket science to see who's going to survive, and I see the same happening with BB and Netflix

 

[ajzepp]

I would hope with the price increase they get more stock.  I would hate to pay extra and still have long wait times to get Blu-ray discs which I heard is the case for many people.  I was going to upgrade to Blu-ray until I heard of the wait times and figured why bother.  Even now I can't get most new release DVD's for weeks, even months.  Sometimes I feel like they send me whatever they want.  Over the years I've added so much stuff to my list while I wait for new releases.  They just sent me Babylon A.D. today and that was released in early January I believe.  I would say my wait time for new releases is probably about a month on average (I must be on their black list or something  All in all, I think that's rather subpar for the premier online service.  I will be glad when the streamline a high quality set top box option that accesses the majority of their catalog. Shuffling these DVD's is getting old, beam me my movie already (don't tell the USPS I said that  )

dude, all you have to do is put some returns back in the mail so that they go out either friday or saturday, and then make sure the new releases for Tuesday that you want are at the top of your queue before Monday morning. They'll ship them out by Monday mid-day and you'll have fresh new releases in your mailbox by Tuesday. Works great!

[ajzepp]

3 DVDs out at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $16.99
Additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access on this plan: $4
Monthly plan cost with Blu-ray access: $20.99

This is similar to the BB plan I have, the only difference is that there are 5 in-store movies allowed with BB.  The in-store movies used to be on top of the rentals (when you returned the envelope to the store this allowed you to take an in-store movie and it triggered off the next movie to be mailed to you).  This has now stopped and the in-store movie counts as the next in line, which equates to an effective elimination of the in-store benefit.  The cost of this plan is $19.95 so it's a $1 cheaper than Netflix.  However, I see that BB have increasingly less movies available and are slowing down their turnaround time, I'm sure they'll be pushing a price increase soon.  On this basis my recommendation would be to stick with Netflix.

In my business I have 2 vendor options to choose from, one is increasing rates and cutting back their service while the second is dropping rates and improving service.  It doesn't take rocket science to see who's going to survive, and I see the same happening with BB and Netflix

 

That's what happens when you are unethical and run a business at a loss in order to attempt to put your competitor out of business (which happens to be illegal). Netflix stole a significant percentage of BB's market share and BB retailiated. BB has gradually had to come back down to earth with their program in order to keep it in the black. BB was also forced to change their software since they were sued for stealing proprietary concepts from Netflix. I'm all for competition and building a better mousetrap, but BB went over the line and they paid for it.

[launche]

I would hope with the price increase they get more stock.  I would hate to pay extra and still have long wait times to get Blu-ray discs which I heard is the case for many people.  I was going to upgrade to Blu-ray until I heard of the wait times and figured why bother.  Even now I can't get most new release DVD's for weeks, even months.  Sometimes I feel like they send me whatever they want.  Over the years I've added so much stuff to my list while I wait for new releases.  They just sent me Babylon A.D. today and that was released in early January I believe.  I would say my wait time for new releases is probably about a month on average (I must be on their black list or something  All in all, I think that's rather subpar for the premier online service.  I will be glad when the streamline a high quality set top box option that accesses the majority of their catalog. Shuffling these DVD's is getting old, beam me my movie already (don't tell the USPS I said that  )

dude, all you have to do is put some returns back in the mail so that they go out either friday or saturday, and then make sure the new releases for Tuesday that you want are at the top of your queue before Monday morning. They'll ship them out by Monday mid-day and you'll have fresh new releases in your mailbox by Tuesday. Works great!

Thanks AJ,

I do that method and it doesn't always work for me.  Plus, it puts undue pressure on my movie watching experience, feeling as if I have to meet a deadline to get the movie out. I have no complaints other than I'd like more new release titles available.  Due to this lag in my Netflix account, I've just started going back to the movies for things I really want to see and feel may be popular rentals that I might not get for awhile.  Nothing's perfect, it's a great option and I've been a happy member since 2003.  Now beam me my movies already.

[ajzepp]

I would hope with the price increase they get more stock.  I would hate to pay extra and still have long wait times to get Blu-ray discs which I heard is the case for many people.  I was going to upgrade to Blu-ray until I heard of the wait times and figured why bother.  Even now I can't get most new release DVD's for weeks, even months.  Sometimes I feel like they send me whatever they want.  Over the years I've added so much stuff to my list while I wait for new releases.  They just sent me Babylon A.D. today and that was released in early January I believe.  I would say my wait time for new releases is probably about a month on average (I must be on their black list or something  All in all, I think that's rather subpar for the premier online service.  I will be glad when the streamline a high quality set top box option that accesses the majority of their catalog. Shuffling these DVD's is getting old, beam me my movie already (don't tell the USPS I said that  )

dude, all you have to do is put some returns back in the mail so that they go out either friday or saturday, and then make sure the new releases for Tuesday that you want are at the top of your queue before Monday morning. They'll ship them out by Monday mid-day and you'll have fresh new releases in your mailbox by Tuesday. Works great!

Thanks AJ,

I do that method and it doesn't always work for me.  Plus, it puts undue pressure on my movie watching experience, feeling as if I have to meet a deadline to get the movie out. I have no complaints other than I'd like more new release titles available.  Due to this lag in my Netflix account, I've just started going back to the movies for things I really want to see and feel may be popular rentals that I might not get for awhile.  Nothing's perfect, it's a great option and I've been a happy member since 2003.  Now beam me my movies already.

lol, the last thing you said is the way it'll be soon anyway....Netflix will stream movies in high def right into your home and you'll never have to worry about any undue pressure on your movie watching experience again!    Have I mentioned that I love Netflix?