Netflix Cuts Prices Again; DVD Rental Price War in Full Effect

Wed Jul 25, 2007 4:40PM EDT

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Netflix is cutting the price on its most popular service, the three-discs-at-a-time rental plan, to $16.99 a month, matching Blockbuster in what is shaping up to be a bitter, grueling price war for both companies.

Netflix's prices are now exactly in line with Blockbuster's mail-only service. Both companies have a $13.99 plan (two movies at a time) and an $8.99 plan (one movie at a time). (Blockbuster's "Total Access" plans are a dollar more and allow for in-store disc exchanges as well.)

Netflix stock has been hammered as a result of this and earlier price cuts. You can now buy a share of NFLX stock for less than the three-disc monthly subscription fee. Yow.

Has Netflix's rental model begun to stagnate? With 6.8 million subscribers as of March, analysts are suggesting that the company doesn't seem to be growing any further and may in fact be sliding backwards as customers head elsewhere. Meanwhile, Blockbuster has been growing its online service immensely, now boasting 3 million subscribers vs. 1.5 million in late 2006.

Business aside, the question that might ought to be asked is not whether Blockbuster or Netflix will win this battle, but whether the era of DVD rentals is beginning to come to a close, with online video becoming a more and more viable alternative. Even Netflix itself has gotten into online video lately, with a well-received streaming video platform (included in your subscription fee).

Are you still renting DVDs (and if so, from which company?), or have you started the great migration to online?

Comments on Netflix Cuts Prices Again; DVD Rental Price War in Full Effect

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  • 1 Posted by theyowman on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:06PM EDT Report Abuse

    I'm interested to know, why, in this sentence: "You can now buy a share of NFLX stock for less than the three-disc monthly subscription fee. Yow." Did you use the word Yow?

  • 3 Posted by dcsoccer25 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:39PM EDT Report Abuse

    theyowman, perhaps because the stock used to be worth a considerably larger amount of money.

  • 4 Posted by theyowman on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:06PM EDT Report Abuse

    Yes, but as you can see by the middle three letters in my name i am particularly interested in the way he used it. You see, i started the word in common conversation as a bridge between a particular situation and an abrupt lack of words to describe the situation. Say, for instance, you see a man walking down the street.. He slips on a banana peel and you witness this event. Besides the forthcoming laughter immediately followed by dire concern, a usefull word to insert here is "Yow!". In Chris's reply to my comment, he used it in a different way, replacing the standard "you" with "yow" which misaligns the word with it's intended meaning.

  • 5 Posted by collarncuffsboy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:28PM EDT Report Abuse

    When I read the post, and saw the "Yow", I assumed he meant it as you would also use "Wow" or "OMG". He was expressing a feeling of surprise or amusement. My roommates and I are using NetFlix at the $13.99 2 DVDs at a time level. We are considering jumping to the 3 DVD's at a time level.

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