The Netflix topic is like the gift that keeps on giving. Last month I was working on a post with three take-away lessons from their summer price change fiasco. In the middle of drafting that post, Update One to that post became necessary – Netflix said they were sorry for handling it so badly, and now they were splitting into two companies.
So much chatter ensued as a result of that move by Netflix that I put out Update Two about some of the reasons which may have been behind it.
Update Three noted that none other than Roger Ebert had weighed in on the topic. And Update Four posted a great Saturday Night Live skit on the subject. A skit I should point out, that now looks hopelessly out of date.
Which brings me to Update Five:…
Netflix is now back to one company. In the face of mounting customer rage, they have decided to reverse a minor inconvenience but maintain a major sticking point. Last week Netflix announced it was dropping the company-imposed inconvenience of requiring people to use two different sites to manage their accounts and queues (Qwikster for DVDs and Netflix for streaming), but, in a move that surprises no one at this point, they kept the original widely-vilified price hikes. As the 90 day stock price chart below shows, at this point, even holding fast on the revenue line doesn’t cheer up Wall Street.
Perhaps the shareholders are concerned with Update Six? What could that be, you ask? The announcement that Netflix just paid a billion dollars for a few shows from one network. I suspect that Wall Street’s is concern is fundamental: even if Netflix doesn’t manage to kill itself, mainstream media companies will do it in anyway.
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