Netflix Disc Rental Future

[avs commenter]

Netflix to Exit the DVD Delivery Business After 25 Years

RIP September 2023

[HDTV1080P]

All media formats that offer movies, need to have both a purchase and rental option to be a strong consumer format. If the rental option for physical optical media like Blu-ray and DVD were to disappear then that is one sign that physical media is coming to an end. While Netflix unlimited Blu-ray/DVD rental program is scheduled to end by September 29th 2023. The positive thing is REDBOX is still in business and offers 4K Blu-ray rentals with over 36,000 automated rental vending locations in the United States. REDBOX offers 4K Blu-ray rentals for $2.50 per night, Blu-ray rentals for $2.25 a night and DVD rentals for $2.25 a night. Also, with over 36,000 locations in the United States, most people are within 5 to 10 minutes away from their closes REDBOX location. However, those that live in extreme rural areas are around 40 minutes away from their closes REDBOX location, which makes Netflix unlimited Blu-ray by mail rental programs attractive for some people. One of the obvious reasons why Netflix is ending its Blu-ray/DVD rental business in 5 months is because most consumers are converting over from physical rentals to 4K streaming, 4K on demand cable TV, and 4K on demand satellite TV rentals. Also, with inflation and the price of media mail and first-class mail services going up, it was costing Netflix more money to mail out optical discs, and instead of raising rental prices they just decided to end the service on September 29th 2023.

https://www.redbox.com/4K

Netflix unlimited Blu-ray/DVD rental program by mail is scheduled to officially end on September 29th 2023. Netflix never rented 4K Blu-ray discs, that is an exclusive feature offered by REDBOX. If the Netflix unlimited Blu-ray/DVD rental by mail ends on September 29th, this will result in many consumers in October 2023 transitioning over to their local REDBOX automated rental machine to rent physical media like 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD.

https://www.usnews.com/news/business...y-mail-service

*** One can still sign up for Netflix unlimited Blu-ray rental plan by mail and enjoy unlimited Blu-ray new release rentals for the next 5 months, up until the service is scheduled to be shutdown on 9-29-2023. Maybe if several millions of new customers sign up for Blu-ray rentals by mail, Netflix might consider not canceling physical optical disc service on 9-29-2023 ***

It costs $9.99 a month to rent one Blu-ray disc at a time under the basic plan. It costs $14.99 a month to rent 2 Blu-ray discs out at a time for the standard plan, and it costs $19.99 a month to rent 3 Blu-ray discs at a time for the Premium plan. And each rental program has unlimited rentals a month.

I just signed up for the very first time for unlimited Blu-ray rentals for $19.99 a month using the 3 Blu-ray discs at a time. A family member that I live with, use to have Netflix unlimited Blu-ray rentals, but then they canceled the physical optical disc rental program over a year ago and switched to streaming. While during the same time over the last few years I have increased my purchases of new 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray discs for my personal collection, and I did not have the time to rent Blu-ray discs since I was going through the movies that I purchased instead. But since 99% of the movies I own are only watched once, it makes sense to have an unlimited Blu-ray rental plan. 5 months from now when Netflix cancels its physical optical disc service on September 29th 2023, my only rental option as far as I am aware will be the automated REDBOX machine. While all REDBOX locations have Blu-ray rentals, only a select few locations offer 4K Blu-ray rentals.

Sign up for unlimited Blu-ray rentals at the following link
https://dvd.netflix.com/Plans?dsrc=D...HOME_BILLBOARD

[dallywhitty]

Yes.

[Jay H.]

What was the middle part?

[HDTV1080P]

The Blu-ray.com forum website is experiencing technical problems and I am not able to edit the grammar or spelling errors of my post at the start of the thread. Therefore, I am forced to leave the first post as is. Hopefully this technical glitch will get fixed.

Was able to edit my post now.

[CreasyBear]

You don't say.

[HDTV1080P]

If several millions of consumers were to sign up for unlimited Blu-ray rentals from Netflix, then maybe the company would reconsider and not cancel physical optical disc rentals like Blu-ray and DVD by September 29th 2023.

[houseca]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

If several millions of consumers were to sign up for unlimited Blu-ray rentals from Netflix, then maybe the company would reconsider and not cancel physical optical disc rentals like Blu-ray and DVD by September 29th 2023.

Well all I can say is I hope several millions of consumers read your post and get motivated to save our blu-rays!

[meremortal]

Redbox seems to be the only physical renting service with any staying power. Their kiosks are everywhere. I've yet to use one, though. But it's no doubt impressive how they're at practically every Wal Mart and many grocery stores and drug stores, etc. It just feels kind of boring flipping through a screen to rent a movie, even if it's convenient.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by meremortal

Redbox seems to be the only physical renting service with any staying power. Their kiosks are everywhere. I've yet to use one, though. But it's no doubt impressive how they're at practically every Wal Mart and many grocery stores and drug stores, etc. It just feels kind of boring flipping through a screen to rent a movie, even if it's convenient.

Same, with the added reservations that I doubted the selection was nearly as big as the Netflix selections and I didn't like the idea of having to return to the kiosk to return it. Maybe I'm a lazy bum, I dunno, I just didn't want to keep coming back to Walmart just for that. My mailbox was quite a bit more convenient anyway.

[HD Goofnut]

It was if millions of subscribers suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

[NotASpeckOfCereal]

Then what we have? We already know that streaming doesn't retain a vast number of titles at any given time. Even now, I can go through my dvd.com queue and find that only a small percentage are available on streaming.

[HeavyHitter]

Hell, I thought Netflix quit renting out discs a long time ago. Quite surprised they went this long.

[NotASpeckOfCereal]

There's already a thread for this:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=21051608

But I'll bite: REDBOX is in no way a decent replacement for dvd.com (netflix disc rental) because of their limited selection. They can only fit so many discs in that box and of course they will have multiple copies of popular blockbusters.

Dvd.com has (had) far more titles, 10s of thousands (some say 100,000), just as it has over streaming. I've compared my netflix queue to those available for streaming and it always pales in comparison.

Also, since dvd.com is dying, you'll may very well see REDBOX go next (because of the reduced popularity of films on optical discs).

Chris

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by NotASpeckOfCereal

Then what we have? We already know that streaming doesn't retain a vast number of titles at any given time. Even now, I can go through my dvd.com queue and find that only a small percentage are available on streaming.

That's why you have your own Digital Collection of your favorite Movies or TV Shows, to access them anytime you want. My favorite Streaming Providers are Amazon Prime, MA, or Vudu!

[BluBonnet]

Nobody expected vinyl to make a comeback, but it did.

Never rule out the future of physical media. Sometimes it's just around the corner.

[danbez]

For many years now I rent from https://www.store-3d-blurayrental.com/login.asp. They have a good selection of Blu-Rays and UHD, and you request them to add specific titles to their library as well.

[BluBonnet]

The plot thickens:

Redbox Owner Interested In Buying Netflix’s DVD Business

Could Netflix’s red DVD envelopes and Redbox’s bright red DVD kiosks someday be part of the same company?

Bill Rouhana, the CEO of Redbox owner Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, sure hopes so.

“I’d like to buy it,” Rouhana said of Netflix’s DVD business in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter Wednesday. “I wish Netflix would sell me that business instead of shutting it down.”

Redbox is already the biggest DVD rental company in the U.S., with a network of some 32,000 red DVD kiosks across the country. Just this week it announced plans to add another 1,500 kiosks at Dollar General stores (Rouhana says the Dollar General kiosks are some of the company’s most profitable).

Netflix on April 18 announced that after 25 years, it would mail out its last DVD in September. While the DVD business kickstarted Netflix’s meteoric rise, in recent years it has been on the decline. In 2022 it had $146 million in revenue, down $40 million from the year prior. Q1 had revenue of $32 million, suggesting a further decline this year.

And Rouhana says he has reached out to Netflix over the years expressing a desire to acquire the DVD business, to no avail.

“I have tried like three or four times to reach out to the corporate development people about it but just got rebuffed each time,” Rouhana says. “So when I saw it being closed, I thought well, maybe they’ll do it now.”

A Netflix source told THR that the company is winding down the business, and not selling it. (As far what happens to those warehouses full of DVDs that fueled Netflix’s red envelope business, those seem to be in limbo for now.)

Even if that is the case, Rouhana says he believes the decision to shutter the service will benefit his company. “This could be a great boon to us because now there’s a whole bunch of people who are going to look for a new place to get their DVDs, and we’re close to 90 percent of them based on where our kiosks are located,” he says.

And, he notes, he does not expect the DVD business to go away anytime soon.

“We believe in it, and we believe it’s going to be around for a while. Like most legacy things, it’s a lot harder to kill them than people say, I believe,” he adds.

In fact, he believes the DVD business is in a position for growth over the next few years, thanks to a larger slate of movies hitting theaters, and a desire from studios to reengage with windowing strategies.

“We programmed our business plan for us to get back to about 30 percent of the 2019 level,” Rouhana says. “I feel that’s pretty conservative, I think we’ll be better than that. But, you know, that’s how we built the business plan that we’ve articulated. So people can decide for themselves whether they think that’s overly optimistic or overly pessimistic.”

But adding Netflix’s red envelopes, and its estimated million or so customers, would be another feather in the cap.

[cgpublic]

Originally Posted by BluBonnet

The plot thickens...

My understanding is Netflix is not going to 'sell' the disc rental business because financially it is in their best interest to write off the cost of shutting it down as opposed to selling it (and potentially sharing customer data) and will either donate or destroy the actual discs.

That said, money changes everything, so who knows. The only thing for sure is that unless Redbox can soften the blow, it's a pretty big dent ($100M+) to physical media.

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by cgpublic

My understanding is Netflix is not going to 'sell' the disc rental business because financially it is in their best interest to write off the cost of shutting it down as opposed to selling it (and potentially sharing customer data) and will either donate or destroy the actual discs.

That said, money changes everything, so who knows. The only thing for sure is that unless Redbox can soften the blow, it's a pretty big dent ($100M+) to physical media.

They could just be playing hard to get to try and get a sweeter deal.

Business deals are all about posturing.