Hacking NetFlix

ABCNews: Ticket Sales Down 12.6% Since 2002

Despite the success of King Kong, ABCNews is reporting that movie ticket sales are down 12.6% from 2002.

"The industry has to consider whether or not American audiences are sending a message about the quality of the movies they are getting — or just the way and the place in which they get them," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations, a firm that analyzes box-office trends. "You can bet that producers, writers, directors and studio heads are all huddling intensely to consider what this means and change their behavior to keep it from continuing."

It could just be a continued shift away from multiplexes and toward Blockbuster, Netflix, and other home-viewing options, Dergarabedian and others say.

In a related story, Video Business is reporting that consumer spending on home video and rentals has declined for the first time in 25 years.

Despite the overall decline in revenue, spending on all DVDs was up nearly 10% on an enormous base of more than $22 billion. The market for the DVD format stood at just $6 billion as recently as 2001. Although the less than 10% growth rate in 2005 is only about one-third of the more than 28% gain in DVD revenue in 2004, most studios enjoyed notable home video revenue increases this year.

Netflix List of Shipping Centers Facing Deletion on Wikipedia

The list of Netflix Distribution Centers on the Wikipedia is under consideration for deletion. If you want the Wikipedia to host this information you can vote "Do not delete." I would host the information here but I'm worried that a "fake" PO Box will be submitted and someone will steal a bunch of movies.

The best thing you can do if you want to send all movies back to your local shipping center is to copy the address on your Netflix envelopes every few weeks (they do change from time to time).

via Chris and the Netflix Fan Blog

Netflix Collecting "Rental" Tax in Phoenix & Cleveland

Dyanna, Timothy and Jose are reporting that Netflix will be collecting a "use or rental" tax in Phoenix and Cleveland. Here's the notice from Netflix:

From: Netflix
Date: Dec 29, 2005 9:26 PM
Subject: Important information about your Netflix account
To: dyanna

*******************************************************
NETFLIX - Important Account Update
*******************************************************

Dear Dyanna,

Thank you for being a Netflix member. We are writing to let you know that on January 1, 2006, as required by your state and local tax laws, Netflix will switch from collecting a sales tax to collecting a use/rental tax. The price of your Netflix plan is the same, but this change in tax types may change your full monthly subscription charge slightly and will start on your next billing date. To see a summary of your billing activity, please visit Your Account (http://www.netflix.com/YourAccount?).

-The Netflix Team

I did some research, and Netflix is collecting the tax due to new legislation:

Memberships, monthly fees or admission fees to rental clubs or limited access lessors, such as a video rental store, are taxable.

How Much Do You Pay for a Movie Rental?

The comments on an earlier story (Blockbuster $2.99 Store Rentals) made me realize that movie rental prices, even from Blockbuster, vary widely by region. I'm probably paying the highest in the country at $4.99 per rental (Connecticut).

What do you pay for a movie rental and where do you live?

Blockbuster $2.99 Store Rentals

Blockbuster sent me a card in the mail that enables me to rent "unlimited" movies for only $2.99 each during the month of January. All of my local stores are franchises, so I'm wondering if this is just a local promotion or if it's being offered nation-wide. What a great way to get customers back into the stores. Has anyone else received this offer?

Update: A Blockbuster rental in my area (Connecticut) is $4.99, so this is a savings of $2 per rental.

Peace on Earth? The Comment Problem...

Laura writes:

Just one thought.... Is there any way you can edit the comments for profanity? Like even putting stars in? Or just deleting the insulting ones?

I like to read your site but am always appalled at how offensive some people are to each other. It doesn't seem to add to the discussion, it's just rude and mean. It kills any kind of meaningful discussion to just call each other names.

I'd support taking a stand for civility. I mean, if a person wouldn't spew profane invective in face-to-face dialogs (which I hope is the case!), they don't need to online, either.

Her timing couldn't be better. I've been wrestling with the hate and profanity in the comments for a long time, but I've held back only because I really believe that everyone should be able to participate in the discussion without being censored. There are several options:

Do nothing. I can let things continue as they are, but I feel that people are shocked by the dialog and are afraid to comment because they fear they will be attacked.

Require registration. I've considered doing this in the past, but I worry that some people will only comment if they can be anonymous.

Remove offensive comments and ban users. This is a harsh step, but if I receive a number of complaints I could ban or block users (I really don't want to do this).

Preview and edit all comments. This is a huge job, and if I start editing comments, where do I stop?

I do not want to start editing or deleting comments (there are more than 15,000 comments now). Unfortunately, my blogging software doesn't have a profanity or hate filter.

Could we all just be a bit nicer to each other? What do you recommend?

Netflix Leads in "Bytes Per Second"

Internet Retailer is reporting that Netflix leads the top 50 online retailers in "bytes per second" with a score of 20.7.

Measuring how many bytes per second shoppers can download using multiple connections is a key indicator of web site performance and customer satisfaction. Overall shoppers could access an average of about 3.4 bytes per second on the 50 largest retail sites, according to Gomez.

Netflix is #20 for the time it takes to load the home page (7.95 seconds). The data was compiled by research firm Gomez, Inc.

Is the Success of Netflix Bad for the Industry?

Karina from Cinematical wonders, "Netflix is kicking ass ... but to the detriment of the industry?"

It's one thing if The 'flix is crushing Blockbuster – I think we can all agree that this is not such a bad thing. But what about the independent video store market? I like my local video store (even though I currently owe them about $50 on a Merchant-Ivory film that I forgot to return for two weeks); I like being able to wander in there and moon around for an hour and talk to the owner before picking out my Saturday evening rental. How long do we have before Netflix makes that very experience completely impossible?

I remember when Blockbuster came into my town and some of the video stores went out of business before Blockbuster even opened. I miss some of the old video stores, but I also enjoy the increased selection, price savings, and convenience of not having to spend an hour at the video store to find a movie. I prefer to search online for movies, reading reviews instead of movie boxes or getting advice from the store clerk to select the entertainment for the week.

Will you miss the video store?

WSJ: The Multiplex Under Siege

The Wall Street Journal has a story about the multitude of problems facing the multiplex, including flat screen tvs, bankruptcy, rude guests, $6 popcorn, pre-show ads, cell phones, etc. Theaters are so desperate to reverse the decline in attendace that they are turning to technology to fight back:

Some chains say they're considering clamping down more, increasing the number of times ushers "sweep" theaters to rein in loud audience members. A more radical tactic under consideration: jamming cellphones to thwart chatty audience members. The theater owners' trade group and its members are looking into a cellphone call-blocking service that is currently illegal under federal communications law.

Do you still go to the theater? What annoys you the most?

Thanks to Joe for sending this in.

Reed Hastings on Charlie Rose Show Tonight

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings will be a guest on the Charlie Rose show tonight at 11pm on PBS (check your local listings). Walt Mossberg from the Wall Street Journal will also be on the show, so it should be a good one.

Thanks to Manda for sending this in.