Fly or Die: How Long Is Qwikster For This World?

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

Erick Schonfeld is the Editor in Chief of TechCrunch. He oversees the editorial content of the site, helps to program the Disrupt conferences and CrunchUps, produces TCTV shows, and writes daily for the blog. He is also the father of three adorable children. He joined TechCrunch as Co-Editor in 2007, and helped take it from a popular... → Learn More

If you get your DVDs from Netflix, soon the name on the familiar red envelope will be Qwikster. But how long is Qwikster for this world? In this episode of Fly or Die, John Biggs and I dig into the pros and cons of the service.

Earlier this week, Netflix announced it will be separating its DVD-by-mail service from its streaming movie service. The DVD-by-mail business will be renamed Qwikster and include videogames. The streaming business will keep the Netflix brand. Customers can still subscribe to both, but in my mind Netflix is effectively hastening the death of its DVD business by making it inconvenient to manage both services. Instead of one site and one queue of movies and TV shows, the two services will require different accounts. Netflix is really forcing customers to choose which service they want and it is hoping that they choose the streaming one.

All of this is going on while Dish Network is trying to revive Blockbuster, which now will offer its own streaming-plus-DVD service to Dish subscribers called BlockBuster Movie Pass. (Which brand do you think is stronger? Take our poll).


Company: Netflix
Website: netflix.com
Launch Date: 1997
IPO: NASDAQ:NFLX

With more than 23.3 million members in the United States and Canada, Netflix, Inc. is the world’s leading Internet subscription service for enjoying movies and TV shows. For $7.99 a month, Netflix members in the U.S. can instantly watch unlimited movies and TV episodes streaming right to their TVs and computers and can receive unlimited DVDs delivered quickly to their homes. In Canada, streaming unlimited movies and TV shows from Netflix is available for $7.99 a month. There are...

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