Netflix Settlement Judge Changes Mind
The New York Sun is reporting that the judge, Thomas Mellon Jr., has decided not to decrease the fees awarded to the lawyers in the Netflix class action lawsuit.
Judge Thomas Mellon Jr. signaled the change after the company said it expects the number of customers seeking to temporarily upgrade their subscriptions under the settlement to jump to 655,000, more than double the tally of those currently signed up.Under the settlement, current customers of Netflix would be eligible to get an extra movie for a month, while former customers would receive a month's free service, including up to three movies at a time.
i hope he is still considering the fact that current users are getting the short end of the stick like he was before
Posted by:strobe32 | March 31, 2006 at 07:58 PM
Why doesn't he consider the fact that they'll just throttle anyone who accepts the settlement? The only way you'd come out ahead is if you weren't a member and they had to give you a free month. Then you'd at least get something. But all they'll do now is send your discs even slower. They'll probably throttle us more in the future, to pay the legal fees. The judge needs to think again and toss the whole lawsuit. It is an insult to customers. The settlement should be this - stop throttling or stop claiming UNLIMITED.
Posted by:NetflixShill | April 01, 2006 at 04:45 AM
Haha! I throttled Netflix's money to zero. I cancelled my account! w00t! Heheheheheh.
Posted by:Dr. Cogent | April 01, 2006 at 12:04 PM
I just visited the DVD Dossier Blog to read the April 1st story and while I was there I read through the settlement stuff (http://www.dvddossier.com/2006/01/netflix_settlem.html). They make one really really good point: the settlement doesn't address the problem (though I have my own opinion on what the problem really is).
One of the other stories captures my sentiments exactly. NetFlix needs to establish a cap, ala Zip.ca, preferably with some amount of rollover to keep us low volume customers happy.
Posted by:gir | April 03, 2006 at 08:36 AM
They don't even need a cap. They just need to stop saying UNLIMITED. Nicheflix does not say UNLIMITED, but they do not set a cap either. Nobody would have any reason to complain if they just stopped abusing the "UNLIMITED" and "rent-all-you-want" to lure in the suckers. I would prefer it if they set a cap to giving differential treatment, but as long as they stop the UNLIMITED charade, I would be happy.
Posted by:NetflixShill | April 04, 2006 at 11:42 AM
I don't think that will satisfy most heavy users. Yes, they'll agree that NetFlix shouldn't make the claim if it isn't true, but that's not what they're truly upset about.
What they're really upset about (and will remain upset about) is the check-in delays, shipping delays, and shipment from remote centers - in other words, the throttling.
A cap won't necessarily stop the throttling either, but one would hope NetFlix would do it that way. Instead of getting a trickle all month long, you get a gush for 8 or 10 days, then you reach your cap and shipments just stop. You either wait, or pony up the cash to get more disks.
Posted by:gir | April 04, 2006 at 01:32 PM