Netflix continued the hilarity of watching them spin in circles with a blog post this morning that announces they will NOT be spinning off their DVD-by-mail services into another company called Qwikster. The original plan called for splitting off the company so Netflix could focus on Instant Streaming while Qwikster would continue the DVD-by-mail operations.
So what’s changing? Nothing.
This means no change: one website, one account, one password… in other words, no Qwikster.
Qwikster.com now redirects to Netflix.com instead of its “Coming Soon” page. I guess I can finally stop popping popcorn then?
The price increase and having to pay separately for DVDs and instant streaming are here to stay but at least this addresses customer complaints of having two websites to visit, two queues, and just more overhead.
Netflix continues to improve their streaming selection with some recent deals and they’re being sure to publicize them.
We’re constantly improving our streaming selection. We’ve recently added hundreds of movies from Paramount, Sony, Universal, Fox, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, MGM and Miramax. Plus, in the last couple of weeks alone, we’ve added over 3,500 TV episodes from ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, USA, E!, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Discovery Channel, TLC, SyFy, A&E, History, and PBS.
Other theories?
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings winked at a deal with Amazon acquiring Netflix during his interview on Nightline. Previous theories stated that they were spinning off the DVD-by-mail operation to make the company more affordable and trim the fat for the services Amazon was interested in. With the backtracking on Qwikster, it seems like the Amazon-Netflix acquisition deal fell through and Netflix is trying to reverse the damage.
Sorry, Twitter’s @Qwikster. I don’t think you’re getting that million dollar buy-out offer you wanted. You did get 10,000 followers out of it though.
(Image via Reddit)