The Internet movie-rental company said it was abandoning a plan to split its DVD-by-mail service into a separate business named Qwikster, originally hatched so it could focus on its online video-streaming service. Customers had howled about that plan, which promised to heap inconvenience on top of a previously announced 60% price increase. Between the two moves, subscribers were livid, and a customer exodus was driving down Netflix shares. Netflix Abandons Qwikster Plans –...

For DVDs, Netflix’s rights are unlimited and its costs are constrained. For digital, its rights are constrained and its costs are unlimited. In the absence of the first-sale doctrine, Netflix must negotiate each and every title, and the price of the right to stream that digital title is up to the whim of the content owner. For many titiles, you cannot even obtain digital rights, because they can’t find all the people the need to release the rights to do so. What’s Really Behind The Netflix/Qwikster Split?. This explains a bit more about the Netfilx/Qwickster split and associated price jumps. That first sale doctrine should totally apply to streaming content as well…it even seems like it would be a cheaper option to not have to produce DVD’s really at all and have things available as digital copies. I suppose they keep them for people who like to have the physical media…and others who don’t have reliable internet...

  Netflix Inc.’s move to separate its movie-streaming business and its DVD-by-mail service failed to soothe many customers’ anger over the company’s recent price increase. A Netflix spokesman said the DVD-by-mail service, to be renamed Qwikster, will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Netflix. … He wrote that customers will receive separate credit-card statements for the two services, with the new one billed under its new name. Netflix Separates DVD and Streaming Services – WSJ.com. Oh boy…I was okay with Netflix until now. Communication, communication, communication! It’s not so much what the company is doing, but HOW they’re doing it. Also to have two different websites for the same company..with two different bills? A big User Experience fail. I’ve always been annoyed with Verizon for having me sign in two different sites to pay my FIOS Internet and wireless bills (can’t do OneBill since I don’t have a landline). It made no sense that not having a landline precluded me from using that single sign on service. Come on now Netflix…do you have anything else to announce? Just put it all out...

According to anonymous sources for the LA Times, Netflix offered over $300 million to license Starz content, but Starz didn’t merely want cash up front — it wanted the Starz Play service to be a premium Netflix tier, and have Netflix charge more than the existing $7.99 a month for access. Starz says Netflix deal is over after streaming services hikes its prices – The Washington Post. Netflix’s battle for licensing continues. First they dealt with skyrocketing prices from the distributors, now when trying to manage those costs, they get threats of non-renewal! Maybe it’s time for the consumers to rise up and take matters into their own hands? Time for us to start pressuring the distributors...