Netflix Subscriptions Drop, Despite Price Cut
The quarterly number of Netflix subscribers has gone down for the first time since the online DVD rental company's inception. Though the 6.8 to 6.74 million drop was small, it was enough to push the stock price down 16 percent yesterday from 6.8 to 6.74 million -- egged on, no doubt, by the recent $1 price drop in Netflix's most expensive plans.
Netflix, which pioneered the online DVD rental business, has recently been under pressure from Blockbuster, which, ironically, has also seen its profit drop ever since the advent of Netflix. The $1 price drop brought the Netflix plans in line with the Blockbuster subscriptions, price-wise, but Blockbuster's plan offers the added benefit of letting you return DVDs rented online to its brick and mortar stores, and exchange them for new movies on the spot.
Recently, Netflix launched its streaming movie site, which lets you watch many of the movies in your rental queue online on a PC. So far, Blockbuster isn't doing any such online movie download or viewing service. DVDs, like CDs, are on the way out, thanks to the increased accessibility and quality of downloaded movies. Blockbuster had better think about offering online downloads of some sort soon, or its temporary victory will be short-lived.
From TG Daily and AOL Money & Finance.
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