11 posts and columns on discs

News Byte

Netflix Buys DVD.com Domain, But Says It Won’t Create a Disc-Only Web Site

in Media on March 30 at 11:52 am PT

Netflix has bought the DVD.com domain name, but the company says it doesn’t plan on cleaving its DVD and streaming businesses into two operations, as it had tried to do last fall with its ill-fated Qwikster plan. A Netflix spokesman says the company purchased the Internet address for purely defensive reasons, and that Netflix users will continue to access discs and streamed movies from the same site.

Netflix (Still) Really Doesn’t Want Your DVD Money

in Media on February 17 at 7:35 am PT

If you try hard, Reed Hastings will let you pay him for access to DVDs by mail. But he’d be happier if you stuck with streaming.
cracked disc

Hollywood Showdown: Blockbuster, Redbox Balk at Warner’s New Window

in Media on January 6 at 5:08 pm PT

Warner Bros. wants to keep its DVDs out of the hands of renters for an extra month. Blockbuster and Redbox don’t want to play along.
reservoir-dogs-mexican-standoff

Netflix Really, Really Doesn’t Want Your DVD Money

in News on December 22, 2011 at 12:25 pm PT

“Old fogey discs” are a billion-dollar business for Reed Hastings and company. But if you want to see how badly Netflix wants out, go ahead and try to give someone a DVD gift subscription today.
cracked disc

Thanks, Thor! Hollywood Sells Some Discs After All.

in Media on October 14, 2011 at 11:23 am PT

Turns out some people are still interested in buying movies, not renting them — for a certain group of titles.
thor

Netflix Tells Its Customers to Ditch Their DVDs or Pay Up

in Media on July 12, 2011 at 11:13 am PT

Reed Hastings and company see themselves as Web video guys, not discs-in-the-mail guys. Now they’re making it clearer than ever, with a 60 percent price hike for customers who want both.
reed hastings

Netflix Adds Another Studio: Sony Agrees to 28-Day DVD "Window"

in Media on October 6, 2010 at 9:35 am PT

More movement from Netflix as it transitions from discs to digital: A distribution deal with Sony that reduces its access to DVDs in exchange for lower fees and more rights to stream movies to your home.

Watch Hollywood Crater in a Single Sentence

in Media on February 1, 2010 at 11:57 am PT

DVD sales are collapsing, nearly as quickly as music sales did over the last decade. Just ask MGM, which saw sales drop off a very steep cliff in just a couple of years. And remember this when you hear talk of Hollywood’s resurgence or the coming boom in 3-D.

The Music Industry’s Cautionary iTunes Tale Resonates with Publishers–And Apple

in Media on January 27, 2010 at 6:41 am PT

Look who has learned one of the most important lessons of the music industry’s love-hate relationship with iTunes: Apple. It shows in Steve Jobs’s approach to book publishers, which is designed to assuage their fear that e-books will cannibalize their old business.

The Netflix and Warner Bros. Pact: Subscribers Wait for New Movies, Get More on the Web

in Media on January 6, 2010 at 3:29 pm PT

Here’s a marriage of convenience: A pact between Netflix and Warner Bros. that gives both sides some of what they want, at least for now. The rental service agrees not to offer the studio’s movies for the first 28 days after they go on sale. In return, it gets more movies to offer via its growing Web streaming service.
netflix ticket

Lost in Immersion: Speaking French on the Web

in The Mossberg Solution, August 18, 2009 at 4:00 pm PT