Netflix Disc Rental Future

[NotASpeckOfCereal]

Hey all,

I'd like to start a thread about the future of Netflix disc rental. If this isn't the appropriate forum area, feel free to re-direct.

I am a Netflix subscriber of both disc and streaming. When I tell friends this, I actually get some questions about discs. "What do you mean, the actual DVDs?" I explain the disc thing saying "Yes, and blu-rays too", how Netflix was once disc only (it wasn't that long ago) and streaming used to be a free add-on, only later to be charged for and then become the main Netflix business model in the battle for original content, etc.

If the conversation goes further I explain the differences—such as the fidelity difference, which often gets me blank stares—but mostly I try to point out the availability problem:

• Netflix streaming does not offer anything near the number of film titles they have on disc, much less all that is available today.
• TV shows I am interested in, but don't subscribe to huge cable channel packages (Hulu. SyFy, USA, HBO, FX, etc.): I can just rent the season when it's available on disc, but that's starting to disappear now that they want you to pay for streaming.

So my main question to you for this thread is: will Netflix continue to have disc rental in the foreseeable future, or is the end already near?

If not Netflix, what other means do we have to keep physical media alive, because buying the discs?

On the topic of disc ownership, I own a pretty good library, but we're starting to see some titles not coming out on disc. For now, it seems to be mostly TV series mentioned above, but I worry about tomorrow and I mostly fear for film titles becoming streaming-only.

Discuss!

Chris