We couldn’t be happier.
In a matter of weeks, the actions of the greedy chutias at Netflix have triggered a loss of $8 billion in the company’s market capitalization.
The online DVD rental and movie streaming firm’s shares have fallen over 50% from a high of $304.79 in mid-July to $143.75 on Monday.
Why the Crash?
Ever since the company jacked up its pricing by an unseemly 60% for customers of its DVD rental and streaming service a few weeks back , the company has been at the receiving end of customers’ ire.
As if hiking prices a whopping 60% were not bad enough, the company now plans to separate its DVD rental and streaming businesses into separate activities causing more inconvenience to customers who have signed up for both DVD and streaming.
Customers must now have separate accounts and logins because the two services will not be integrated. This is beyond ridiculous.
By the way, the DVD rental is being renamed Qwikster.com while the streaming business will retain the Netflix moniker.
Netflix’ streaming collection is anemic but its DVD library is extensive comprising of Hollywood, Bollywood, Kollywood and other foreign films. The company has about 20,000 streaming titles and over 100,000 titles in its DVD library.
Sweet, Sweet – Netflix Loses $8b in Market Cap added by SearchIndia.com on
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OT: Microsoft Releases National Survey Findings on How to Inspire the Next Generation of Doctors, Scientists, Software Developers and Engineers
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2011/sep11/09-07MSSTEMSurveyPR.mspx
SearchIndia.com Responds:
True, STEM degrees are very important given the rise of India and China but higher education in the U.S. is increasingly becoming unaffordable for a lot of Americans.
Perhaps, they should study in India where the fees (in comparison) are still lower and the standards are significantly lower! :0
I was on SI during class today and the dude sitting next to me saw this and was like “What happened to netflix”? At which point I read aloud the article to everyone in hearing range..good advertisement I think
SearchIndia.com Responds:
We’ve heard of and seen walking and standing advertisements but you sir/ma’am are a sitting advertising medium for SI.
‘Tis no exaggeration to say that your only peer is the late Rosa Parks who once bravely sat down to stand up for her rights. And the rest, as they say, is history. ๐
Thank You.
What readers from India will think when they read about a company called “Netflix”
“Why the hell are these American nuts buying or renting dvd’s when they can get it free from torrents”
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Well, about 24-million “American nuts” (to use your above expression) are forking out anywhere from $9-$17 every month to Netflix. ๐
Having used Netflix for several years now, we’d say it’s a decent service overall. But they screwed up recently with the 60% price hike.
English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, French, Chinese, Romanian, Italian, Korean ad infinitum, Netflix carries virtually every movie. Of course, they’re not so strong on Indian movies but they have a decent collection including oldies like Pasa Malar, Pava Manippu, Parthal Pasi Theerum, Mullum Malarum, Oooty Varai Uravu, Shree 420, Aag (1948), Awaara (1951) etc as well as a lot of recent films.
You didn’t answer the question.
Why do Americans rent movies, music and books when they can be downloaded effortlessly. Fear of being arrested for piracy? Chennaites roam in Spencer plaza but buy in Burma bazaar.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: Why do Americans rent movies, music and books when they can be downloaded effortlessly.
1. Culturally speaking, compared to Indians the Americans generally have greater respect for the law.
2. Fear of getting caught. The music industry & its association RIAA went after music downloaders here in a big way with some high-profile cases and put the fear of God in potential thieves.
3. $9 a month for unlimited Netflix DVDs (one at a time, of course) is not a big deal.
Plus, if you rent from a RedBox kiosk (located outside most American grocery stores) it’s only $1 a day. When you can watch a legal DVD for a buck only a moron would steal.
4. Indians are big-time chutias, with crime hardwired into their DNA. Even here (i.e. U.S.), Bollywood films are available on DVD within three or four days of their release at a lot of Indian grocery stores. As we say often, you can take the Indian out of India but you can’t take the India (i.e. stealing and violating the law in a thousand other ways) out of the Indian.
Indian Movie-makers steal plots, India movie-stars make money off stolen movies (does anyone believe that swines like Surya and Vikram were unaware that Ghajini and Deiva Thirumagal respectively were stolen shit?) and Indian movie-goers steal/download movies.
So, the food-chain of theft in India extends from the chutia producer to the chutia actor and goes down all the way to the chutia moviegoer.
5. American crimes are usually bigger in scale.
Banks, oil companies and other large corporations (Enron, MCI, Citibank, Countrywide etc) often engage in big-time fraud and either go bust (Enron or MCI) or like Citigroup, Countrywide end up paying big fines “without admitting to guilt” (a peculiarity of the law here).
Or we go and attack Iraq on false pretexts so that we can provide billions of $$ of business contracts to our military-industrial complex. Not for us, the small-time $1 or $2 movie downloading theft.
We (Americans) tend to think even in our crimes. When we steal, it’s in the billions (Wall Street, Mortgage fraud, Enron, Bernie Madoff etc) and when we kill it’s in the hundreds of thousands (Iraq, Vietnam, Japan).
It’s easier to send Joe Schmuck to jail for downloading a movie but you can’t imprison the White House (Bush-Cheney for the Iraq debacle/fraud), Enron, MCI or Shittybank.
Big Difference – Indians commit retail crimes, we (Americans) commit wholesale crimes. ๐
Hope, SI has adequately responded to your query this time. ๐
RIP Qwikster