From Netflix to Netflix

For the first time in a long time, I am a Netflix customer. I did the Netflix thing for a year or so (?) when we lived in Estacado, but then we hit a financial rough patch and things had to be cut and Netflix was one of them. It was not an amicable separation as they made the claim that I hadn’t returned DVDs I had returned, and then charged me $30 a piece. (I could have purchased them on Amazon for less than half that.)

But, bygones!

I mostly got it because their children’s programming is supposed to be pretty good. I haven’t poked around too much, but it… doesn’t seem bad, at least. So maybe we’ll have it for a while and then we won’t. Lain has learned to load up and watch videos on the tablet, which is a mixed blessing. The idea of Netflix occurred to me when we were watching an Amazon Prime video on phonics. YouTube also has a good app for kids.

It’s just amazing how much stuff there is out there.

Despite the above-mentioned bad experience, I am genuinely impressed by Netflix the corporation. One thing in particular jumps out at me, which is that they pivoted really quickly to streaming video and did so before they had to. A lot of the time when a company gets the sort of market position that Netflix does, the tendency is to sit on it until someone innovates around you. In this case, they made the determination pretty early that streaming was the future and basically retired their own business model.

Anyway, with football season over I was able to scale back on our satellite service and still come out way ahead.

Category: Elsewhere, Market

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6 Responses to From Netflix to Netflix

Oscar Gordon says:

January 17, 2017 at 11:38 am

I’ve had Netflix for years and find it well worth the money, and the kids programming is quite good. Bug loves the show Justin Time.

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aaron david says:

January 18, 2017 at 10:45 pm

Hulu.

If I remember right (and not saying I do) that came out right about the time that netflicks streaming did. I would guess that it was the push factor.
Right now I am irritated that none of the big three has any Kubrick films for ready streaming and not for an extra charge. What am I paying for?

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- trumwill says:
  
  January 19, 2017 at 9:24 am
  
  Hulu is on my radar. As is that CBS thing, which has the successor to Good Wife.
  
  Reply
Oscar Gordon says:

January 19, 2017 at 9:28 am

I have Netflix, Hulu+, CBS, and Amazon Prime.

Between those 4, I want for very little.

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- Gabriel Conroy says:
  
  January 19, 2017 at 9:43 pm
  
  We technically have Amazon prime but just never get around to using it. (We have it to be able to ship things to our relatives more cheaply.)
  
  Netflix does us pretty good in the entertainment side of things. I consider it a low-cost form of cable.
  
  Reply
Mike Schilling says:

January 27, 2017 at 1:49 am

Huh. I moved once and didn’t think to cancel Netflix, so the DVDs in transit had to be forwarded from my old address and just disappeared. I called customer service and they said “That happens. Don’t worry about it, just send them back if they turn up. Would you like us to send you duplicates?”

So I guess Netflix likes me more than they like you.

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