搞笑图片0147# Joke - 肚皮舞运动
c*o
1 楼
Netflix says it's sorry, then creates new uproar
Red envelopes and red faces: Netflix apologizes after price hike, then
causes another uproar
ap
tweet130
Email
Print
This screen shot shows Qwikster.com, a new website service available soon
from Netflix. Netflix Inc. plans to separate its DVD-by-mail service and
streaming video businesses. CEO Reed Hastings said on Sunday in a blog
posting that the DVD service will be called Qwikster while the streaming
business will be housed under the Netflix name. (AP Photo/Netflix Inc.)
Michael Liedtke, AP Technology Writer, On Monday September 19, 2011, 6:30 pm
EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The CEO of Netflix said he was sorry for mishandling a
recent price increase that caused customers to cancel the service in droves
. But the apology was drowned out by a decision that angered subscribers all
over again.
The company will split into two services -- one with an odd new name that
offers the familiar discs in red envelopes and another for online streaming
of TV shows and movies.
The DVD service will be called Qwikster, a name that is supposed to signify
a commitment to fast service but quickly became an object of ridicule Monday
on the Internet. The streaming service will keep the Netflix name.
Netflix, which had 24.6 million U.S. subscribers at the end of June and is
the nation's largest video subscription service, redefined home
entertainment over the past decade with its DVDs by mail. Now it's trying to
prepare for the day when watching movies on a disc goes the way of driving
to the video store to pick up a VHS tape.
But lately, it has bungled the transition. The company has lost half its
market value since July, when it announced that customers who wanted DVDs
and streaming had to pay for them separately -- and pay up to 60 percent
more.
The decision to rebrand the best-known part of Netflix's business left some
experts wondering whether CEO Reed Hastings is losing the touch that
established him as an influential figure in technology and entertainment.
Others see the logic in trying to make sure Netflix keeps a thriving
business as customers abandon DVDs and shift in greater numbers to beaming
movies and TV shows into their living rooms over high-speed Internet
connections.
It's going to be a painful transition, as Hastings acknowledged as he cut
loose the DVD service.
"It's hard for me to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with
pride, but we think it is necessary and best," Hastings wrote on a Netflix
blog. The CEO of the rechristened Qwikster service will be Andy Rendich, a
longtime Netflix employee.
Hastings found little sympathy among the more than 10,000 people who
commented on the blog posting.
Most of them lambasted him for making life more difficult for about 12
million customers who get both streaming and DVD rentals. Those people will
have to visit two websites to make requests and update their billing
information.
Other critics questioned the sincerity of his apology for the recent price
increase and ripped him for giving DVD rentals a different identity -- and
for the name Qwikster in particular.
"It's a really dumb name," said Scott Devine of Burbank, Calif., who dropped
the DVD service after the price increase was announced two months ago. "You
would think they would choose something that at least had `flick" in the
name."
The split may seem like the natural next step to Hastings, but he appears
tone deaf to subscribers, said John Tschohl, president of the Service
Quality Institute, a consulting service, and author of the book "Achieving
Excellence Through Customer Service."
"I don't think Netflix is listening to its customers at all," he said. "They
have really blown it."
Columbia Business School marketing professor Brett Gordon thinks Hastings
knows exactly what he's doing by starting to bury the DVD business, even if
Hastings didn't say it in his blog post.
By the end of September, Netflix figures less than 10 percent of its
expected 24 million customers in the U.S. will subscribe to DVD-only plans.
"They don't want the Netflix brand to be damaged by the inevitable death of
physical digital goods," Gordon said.
Netflix was a Wall Street star until the jarring July 12 announcement about
its prices. Its stock rose from about $50 at the beginning of 2009 to more
than $300 in early July.
Since backlash to the price increase, investors have grown disillusioned.
Netflix's market value has plummeted 53 percent from its high, wiping out
about $8 billion in stockholder wealth. On Monday, the stock shed more than
$11 to close at $143.75.
The steepest declines have comes since Netflix warned it expected to have
600,000 fewer subscribers at the end of this month than at the end of June,
by far the worst downturn in the company's history.
Netflix's stock has been hit so hard that it made Hastings' apology seem
like little more than damage control, Devine said.
In his blog post, Hastings wrote that he "slid into arrogance based upon
past success" when he decided to raise prices so dramatically. He emphasized
the higher prices were the right thing to do, but said he should have done
more to explain them.
Hastings said his biggest fear is that Netflix will be left behind by
technological upheaval, like what happened to AOL when people switched from
dial-up Internet to widely available broadband, or Borders when readers
gravitated to the e-book.
Netflix itself has killed off thousands of video rental stores during the
past five years, and it devastated Blockbuster, which once dominated the
home-video market and went bankrupt last year.
Hastings began Netflix's evolution in early 2007 when he added Internet
video streaming. That option grew in popularity even faster than he
anticipated, causing video distributors to demand ever higher licensing fees.
Those expenses are one reason Netflix raised prices. Hastings has promised
to use the additional money it gets from its subscribers to stockpile its
video streaming library with more content.
Some subscribers are upset by Netflix's inability to renew a contract with
Starz Entertainment that included many recently released movies from Walt
Disney Co.'s studios. The Starz deal expires in February.
More broadly, Netflix customers have complained that its TV and movie titles
available for streaming pale next to its menu of more than 100,000 DVD
titles. And they have other places to turn for streaming entertainment --
Amazon.com, iTunes and Hulu, among others.
In Monday's blog post, Hastings wrote that Netflix will make "substantial"
additions during the next few months.
Michele Lucas of Denver is among the Netflix subscribers who think its
streaming library is already losing its appeal. Her family pays only for
streaming now. They stopped renting DVDs from Netflix after the price
increase.
"We sit down at night and go through and we have a really hard time finding
a movie to watch," Lucas said.
Spinning off the DVD services will also allow Netflix to provide studios
with a clearer idea of how many people are streaming their content. That
could be critical as it negotiates future licensing deals.
In addition to the split, Netflix will expand into an area Hastings had
steadfastly resisted -- video game rentals. Adding it to Qwikster may not
make investors happy, though, because video games are more expensive and
have a shorter shelf life than DVDs.
But video-game availability could win back alienated subscribers. Devine
said he might sign up for Qwikster if the selection is good enough. Hastings
seems confident he won't be the only one.
"Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust,"
Hastings wrote on the blog and a mass email to subscribers. "We know it will
not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to
understand actions."
AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay in New York contributed to this story.
On The Web:
Blog post from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: http://bit.ly/pdA81h
Red envelopes and red faces: Netflix apologizes after price hike, then
causes another uproar
ap
tweet130
This screen shot shows Qwikster.com, a new website service available soon
from Netflix. Netflix Inc. plans to separate its DVD-by-mail service and
streaming video businesses. CEO Reed Hastings said on Sunday in a blog
posting that the DVD service will be called Qwikster while the streaming
business will be housed under the Netflix name. (AP Photo/Netflix Inc.)
Michael Liedtke, AP Technology Writer, On Monday September 19, 2011, 6:30 pm
EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The CEO of Netflix said he was sorry for mishandling a
recent price increase that caused customers to cancel the service in droves
. But the apology was drowned out by a decision that angered subscribers all
over again.
The company will split into two services -- one with an odd new name that
offers the familiar discs in red envelopes and another for online streaming
of TV shows and movies.
The DVD service will be called Qwikster, a name that is supposed to signify
a commitment to fast service but quickly became an object of ridicule Monday
on the Internet. The streaming service will keep the Netflix name.
Netflix, which had 24.6 million U.S. subscribers at the end of June and is
the nation's largest video subscription service, redefined home
entertainment over the past decade with its DVDs by mail. Now it's trying to
prepare for the day when watching movies on a disc goes the way of driving
to the video store to pick up a VHS tape.
But lately, it has bungled the transition. The company has lost half its
market value since July, when it announced that customers who wanted DVDs
and streaming had to pay for them separately -- and pay up to 60 percent
more.
The decision to rebrand the best-known part of Netflix's business left some
experts wondering whether CEO Reed Hastings is losing the touch that
established him as an influential figure in technology and entertainment.
Others see the logic in trying to make sure Netflix keeps a thriving
business as customers abandon DVDs and shift in greater numbers to beaming
movies and TV shows into their living rooms over high-speed Internet
connections.
It's going to be a painful transition, as Hastings acknowledged as he cut
loose the DVD service.
"It's hard for me to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with
pride, but we think it is necessary and best," Hastings wrote on a Netflix
blog. The CEO of the rechristened Qwikster service will be Andy Rendich, a
longtime Netflix employee.
Hastings found little sympathy among the more than 10,000 people who
commented on the blog posting.
Most of them lambasted him for making life more difficult for about 12
million customers who get both streaming and DVD rentals. Those people will
have to visit two websites to make requests and update their billing
information.
Other critics questioned the sincerity of his apology for the recent price
increase and ripped him for giving DVD rentals a different identity -- and
for the name Qwikster in particular.
"It's a really dumb name," said Scott Devine of Burbank, Calif., who dropped
the DVD service after the price increase was announced two months ago. "You
would think they would choose something that at least had `flick" in the
name."
The split may seem like the natural next step to Hastings, but he appears
tone deaf to subscribers, said John Tschohl, president of the Service
Quality Institute, a consulting service, and author of the book "Achieving
Excellence Through Customer Service."
"I don't think Netflix is listening to its customers at all," he said. "They
have really blown it."
Columbia Business School marketing professor Brett Gordon thinks Hastings
knows exactly what he's doing by starting to bury the DVD business, even if
Hastings didn't say it in his blog post.
By the end of September, Netflix figures less than 10 percent of its
expected 24 million customers in the U.S. will subscribe to DVD-only plans.
"They don't want the Netflix brand to be damaged by the inevitable death of
physical digital goods," Gordon said.
Netflix was a Wall Street star until the jarring July 12 announcement about
its prices. Its stock rose from about $50 at the beginning of 2009 to more
than $300 in early July.
Since backlash to the price increase, investors have grown disillusioned.
Netflix's market value has plummeted 53 percent from its high, wiping out
about $8 billion in stockholder wealth. On Monday, the stock shed more than
$11 to close at $143.75.
The steepest declines have comes since Netflix warned it expected to have
600,000 fewer subscribers at the end of this month than at the end of June,
by far the worst downturn in the company's history.
Netflix's stock has been hit so hard that it made Hastings' apology seem
like little more than damage control, Devine said.
In his blog post, Hastings wrote that he "slid into arrogance based upon
past success" when he decided to raise prices so dramatically. He emphasized
the higher prices were the right thing to do, but said he should have done
more to explain them.
Hastings said his biggest fear is that Netflix will be left behind by
technological upheaval, like what happened to AOL when people switched from
dial-up Internet to widely available broadband, or Borders when readers
gravitated to the e-book.
Netflix itself has killed off thousands of video rental stores during the
past five years, and it devastated Blockbuster, which once dominated the
home-video market and went bankrupt last year.
Hastings began Netflix's evolution in early 2007 when he added Internet
video streaming. That option grew in popularity even faster than he
anticipated, causing video distributors to demand ever higher licensing fees.
Those expenses are one reason Netflix raised prices. Hastings has promised
to use the additional money it gets from its subscribers to stockpile its
video streaming library with more content.
Some subscribers are upset by Netflix's inability to renew a contract with
Starz Entertainment that included many recently released movies from Walt
Disney Co.'s studios. The Starz deal expires in February.
More broadly, Netflix customers have complained that its TV and movie titles
available for streaming pale next to its menu of more than 100,000 DVD
titles. And they have other places to turn for streaming entertainment --
Amazon.com, iTunes and Hulu, among others.
In Monday's blog post, Hastings wrote that Netflix will make "substantial"
additions during the next few months.
Michele Lucas of Denver is among the Netflix subscribers who think its
streaming library is already losing its appeal. Her family pays only for
streaming now. They stopped renting DVDs from Netflix after the price
increase.
"We sit down at night and go through and we have a really hard time finding
a movie to watch," Lucas said.
Spinning off the DVD services will also allow Netflix to provide studios
with a clearer idea of how many people are streaming their content. That
could be critical as it negotiates future licensing deals.
In addition to the split, Netflix will expand into an area Hastings had
steadfastly resisted -- video game rentals. Adding it to Qwikster may not
make investors happy, though, because video games are more expensive and
have a shorter shelf life than DVDs.
But video-game availability could win back alienated subscribers. Devine
said he might sign up for Qwikster if the selection is good enough. Hastings
seems confident he won't be the only one.
"Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust,"
Hastings wrote on the blog and a mass email to subscribers. "We know it will
not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to
understand actions."
AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay in New York contributed to this story.
On The Web:
Blog post from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: http://bit.ly/pdA81h
