Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Movie fans need to keep Netflix DVD business alive

I’m a movie fan so I subscribe to Netflix’s legacy DVD-by-mail service. It’s the best place to get movies on home video in one place.
Netflix is letting its DVD business fade away as it focuses on its future in streaming video. But Netflix’s streaming service is more and more about its original videos and less about theatrical Hollywood movies. That’s a good business decision but not a great development for movie fans.
It’s too bad Netflix doesn’t market its DVD service as the best service for movies. But Netflix is all about streaming now and its old DVD service is an afterthought.
Netflix had 3.94 million DVD subscribers as of March 31, down 17% from a year earlier when it had 4.74 million subscribers. Two years ago it had 5.56 million subscribers and three years ago it had 6.65 million subscribers.
You see the pattern. It’s not great.
I can only hope that there’s a solid base of movie fans who will keep the subscriber rolls from dipping much more.

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