Netflix subscribers were originally happy to hear the online rental service would begin to offer Blu-ray movie titles, but that happiness has now turned to dismay over the lengthy wait for Blu-ray titles.
An article posted on CNET indicates at least two editors on the site have had movies in their queue for long durations. According to Netflix spokespeople, Hollywood simply isn't releasing enough Blu-ray copies of smash hit movies -- which means Netflix has a harder time keeping a high quantity of movies in the pipeline.
"There is an expense to that," Swasey told CNET. "These things cost money. We deploy money where we think it's going to be most efficient to keep subscribers and investors happy. It's always check and balances."
If you're a frequent renter, get ready to wait even longer for your movies, according to Netflix:
"What we're doing is giving new releases to the person who hasn't rented as much," Swasey told CNET. "We've been doing this for a couple of years and fully disclose this in our terms of agreement. If we have a shortage of titles we do what we think is equitable and give the title to the person who hasn't rented as much or who hasn't gotten as much enjoyment from the service."
Netflix Blu-ray subscribers must pay an additional $1 per month to rent Blu-ray titles, though movie queues are long and movies take longer to arrive. There are only about 500,000 out of almost 9 million subscribers currently renting Blu-ray movies.
TV Predictions is so upset about this issue that the site is urging current Netflix subscribers to dump the service as soon as possible.
"I urge everyone to dump Netflix ASAP and sign up with Blockbuster's online service. Thus far, Blockbuster has been terrific, delivering almost every new release promptly."
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Karma: 34890 , Fri 19 Dec 2008 06:52
I had 10 BD titles at the top of my queue and not one was available. NF considers ALL BD titles to be "new releases". And they have the nerve to charge extra for BD.
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Karma: 51620 , Fri 19 Dec 2008 14:50
I used the Blockbuster service for a while and finally realized that it was not a good value either due to lack of available movies. Like CDan, I had a good 10 items "in the top of the Queue" that I never seemed to get. In the meantime, I was renting movies further down my list, that I really didn't want that much. I got to thinking, hell I am only getting crap I normally would not even want! So I dropped the service. Months later, I could still see my queue and the same desired flicks were still unavailable. After a while, you are better off just using Redbox or Blockbuster Rewards program.
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Karma: 9220 , Fri 19 Dec 2008 19:17
Netflix? Making people wait? No, you don't say...
Does cancelling and starting a new account still work?
The online places are really only good the the stuff you can't rent locally. With Redbox all over town, I usually rent there (their inventory is more than I have time to watch these days anyway). Sometimes I even end up ripping them to watch later. Sadly, there have been few releases in the last couple of years that I've had any desire to watch more than once (and some ended up being fast forwarded on the first watch).
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Karma: 34890 , Fri 19 Dec 2008 20:15
"Does cancelling and starting a new account still work?"
Yes, I maintain 2 separate accounts and switch back and forth. Problem is that they consider all BD to be new releases so they are the first to show as unavailable. But when i re-start an account after a month or 2 of rest, all those titles are magically available for a short while.
