I understand why Netflix is doing this.  They are in a hard and fast competition with the movie industry to control how they present their content while still gaining access to the movie industry's content.

The movie industry does NOT like streaming of their content and has constantly tossed obstacles in the way and Netflix has had to spend a fortune to obtain movie rights and the like.

The other--and big--thing that changed is the rise in online and set-box streaming-- huge increase.  I'd happily pay $15 if I could stream any and all of their content and forgo DVD shipments entirely.  The reason they can't stream everything is the studios won't release permissions to them to do so.

Greedy RIAA and networks at work.

^ This 100%.

How quickly people forget how expensive everything else is, and even if rate increases, you without a doubt get FAR more bang for your buck with Netflix.  I've been a proud member of Netflix for a while now, and it's STILL the greatest thing ever.  I only use it to stream though, so I couldn't care less about any of this news since I'm unaffected.  Even if they raise the rates just for streaming, it's STILL the best, and economically most intelligent way to get your entertainment these days. 

I've stopped paying for cable a long time ago and never looked back.  Couldn't be happier.

My problem with the new pricing isnt' the prices themselves, it's the 'blowing happy smoke up your ass' way they're promoting it.

Costs and things increase, that's the nature of things, and when you've got a bunch of 'content providers' involved, it gets kind of messy, also.

Netflix could have been upfront and said that these kind of changes are needed because of costs and negotiations with the content owners (and I think a lot of people would have respected that), instead, they plate it as a 'happy happy, joy joy' kind of benefit that'll save us all money (despite the fact that, for most, the cost will go up).

I understand wanting to put a positive spin on things, but this one is unambiguously disingenuous.

Also, if they're going to  break out streaming only as a stand alone service, instead of the additional feature it used to be, they should make a better effort at improving the amount of content in the streaming library (and have more constent rules and / or communications about how and why things go in and out of it).

I'm dropping the one dvd a month thing......I've found it only amounts to 5 or 6 per month unless your willing to watch them immediately and ship back the next morning.....even then the best you could do is probably 8 per month.

I've been looking at this free trial letter they sent me the other day and thought I'd check it out. Not too bad...the streaming HD service works good.

Not sure about the amount of movies they have for streaming but I figured I'd check out some of the stuff I haven't seen for years with the trial.

I just watched No Time For Sergeants in HD...what a great movie.

My issue with this is that it seems pretty clear that netflix is taking advantage of their monopoly to give their customers the shaft.  First they push their 1 dvd and unlimited streaming from 7.99 to 9.99 then they split the two at 7.99 each.  This is basically the tail end of a 100% price hike, not just a 60% price hike.  With price increases coming in this fast, what are we going to be looking at next year?  

Well, there was this librarian lady.....East German defector.....very tall, very blonde, and very, very.....military.  Caught me in a.....compromising position...... after a particularly grueling (and rather embarrassing) chess club initiation ceremony. Disciplinary action was administered in the back room.  Leather.....handcuffs.....Bavarian contortionism....it's all a blur. Except for the a part where I woke up tied to a lamppost in my underwear, a message scrawled across my chest in black lipstick informing the world that my library privileges had been permanently revoked. Believe me, I TRIED and TRIED to get back in to that library (hey, who wouldn't), but to no avail. *sigh* good times......

Anyway, on the subject of rental DVDs, I use the BlockBuster rent-by-mail. Since there is a retail store close by, I can return the DVDs there and bypass a day of mail-delay. I also get 5 free in-store exchanges per month. The down-side: I've already rented everything worth watching.

That's because you just quoted a badly written CNET article.  Had you actually read it you'd have realized that it was somewhat convoluted.  And I actually at first chalked it up to your own bad writing but then saw the CNET link and followed that to find out it was their bad writing and not yours at all.  So don't feel bad, they aren't very good either.

My email from Netflix was easy to follow and explained it perfectly.  Maybe CNET should have gotten a hold of that email and just quoted it.  I think you should have just wrote your own article instead of compiling information from two other bad articles.  That's just my opinion, which I'm sure you don't like.

As usual, you're so courteously, pleasantly correct and welcome. 

Why thank you doctor.

I hope I'm accurately reading between the lines with this change and seeing Netflix back off a bit from their streaming-is-it attitude. Even though they've apparently slowed disc acquisitions, the streaming library is still vastly smaller than the disc library and I can't see how it will ever catch up when it comes to 'niche' things like foreign films.

When you have a decent display system, discs also provide solidly better quality than streaming does even on very high bandwidth connections. Streaming also lacks the fine controls of most disc players so it is harder to jump back for a small bit of dialog or skip ahead through a boring chase scene. I've come to enjoy the streaming for re-watching stuff and for trial runs at a TV show I think I might like, but for me it will remain a complement to the disc service, not a replacement.

The badly-pitched price hikes are annoying, but the thing that most annoys me at the moment is that the constant under-construction at the site looks to be 'optimizing' for touch screens and folks who hate to read. Usability on the streaming side is down substantially for me, and I'm hoping that they don't wreck the disc-only titles the same way. IMO, they badly need a 'Classic View' option.

Agree with you. They also need a better selection of action flicks.

Action flicks!  Can someone get this guy some actions flicks!  We need action flicks people!  The do have a disturbing amount of documentaries though.  Many, many silly ones too.

Two excerpts from the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Movie studios and television networks want to capitalize on Netflix's success by getting the company to pay more for content.

Netflix's contract to receive content from Starz ends next year, and analysts say Netflix will likely pay a significant amount to renew it. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said it "wouldn't be shocking" if Netflix paid more than $200 million per year for Starz' service, far more than the estimated $30 million a year it is paying currently.

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/125551433.html?cmpid=15585797

Yeah Uvah--that's what's happening.  Rumor is they will drop Starz!.

What they have been doing to counter is buying licenses and becoming partners in production ventures so they can co-own some movie and television properties and thus be free to make them avaialble without being held hostage by production studios.

It's a lot of money and the studios want to squeeze as much from them as they can.  I'd love to see Netflix get big enough to finance movie and series productions so something other than what the networks offer becomes available.

Imagine if Netflix had been in a position to acquire Firefly or Farscape and had kept them going independently!