Comments for Wiseacre Digital

Comment on A moment of honesty and how things are changing by Paul

Paul — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:43:55 +0000

@Lee — Thank you so much.
@Dan — that means the world to me (as I so greatly respect you and your work)
@Jim — We are funded, yes. It’s exciting and intimidating.

Comment on A moment of honesty and how things are changing by Jim Gray

Jim Gray — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:56:28 +0000

Paul-This sounds awesome, congrats…are you guys funded now?

Comment on A moment of honesty and how things are changing by Dan Mall

Dan Mall — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:51:08 +0000

Paul, this is a huge deal. I love how honest this post is, and I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ll be doing soon. Will be praying for continued blessings for you, brother.

Comment on A moment of honesty and how things are changing by Lee Heidel

Lee Heidel — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:48:32 +0000

Congrats, Paul and best of luck.

Comment on I Want What I Want, And I Want It Now by Mike

Mike — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 02:14:54 +0000

I think you’re being a bit polemic about the issue, and a bit presumptive about others’ motivations. I don’t see the outcry as coming from Americans who are used to getting too much for too little. Nor do It think the new pricing is excessive. I actually think it’s still undervalued. But I’m not going to offer them more. And I won’t like it when they raise the price in the future. Nobody likes price increases. And there’s nothing wrong with not liking price increases, particularly when there isn’t an immediate benefit gained by the price increase. It’s just annoying. That’s all.

I know that Netflix has to make money. The thing that is annoying me and everyone else I know who is annoyed is that I will have to pay a separate fee for something that I am currently not paying a separate fee for. It’s not free to me – it’s included. It’s like the airlines charging for baggage. Is it unreasonable? No. Is it worth it? Yes. Is it annoying? You betcha. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being annoyed. I’m not going to quit Netflix. It’s still a good deal, we’re hooked on streaming, and there isn’t another easy way to rent DVDs in our area (RedBox & Blockbuster’s whatever box don’t have good selection). And when you say there’s no other option, you’re right – there’s no competition.

I think Netflix needs some real competition. Not because it would make their service cheaper. It might actually make it more expensive. But I think it would drive the industry in the streaming direction, which is the way that it’s been going for a while, albeit slowly and jerkily.

The only thing that I think Netflix could have done better in this whole thing is to split the fees for existing customers without increasing the price. Then increase the price. But that wouldn’t have made a huge difference. They considered it, I’m sure. That said, I can’t imagine that anyone didn’t see this coming, much like the data caps on wireless data plans. I was happily shocked when they started offering streaming as part of their subscription. I am unhappily unshocked that they’re upping their rates.

Comment on I Want What I Want, And I Want It Now by wiseacre

wiseacre — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 23:38:00 +0000

That being said, who cares what I think. I don’t know anyone else’s budgets or spending habits; it just doesn’t make sense to me, from my perspective. But then again I don’t have cable (well, that’s not true, we have 20 “lifeline” channels for $20 a month, 4 of which are stupid shopping channels, which is really a waste because we never watch it, but Time Warner won’t let us remove it because of internet or something).

Comment on I Want What I Want, And I Want It Now by wiseacre

wiseacre — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 23:25:45 +0000

I understand that. I think people got spoiled in a transition. I seriously doubt that people watch more than 8 movies on DVD in a month (8 is based in the $8 price point for a single DVD at a time on Netflix); making RedBox (at $1 a movie) that perfect impulse, stop gap solution. If you watch more than 8 DVDs a month than Netflix is cheap. Or one can cancel and try and find a solution as cheap with as many unlimited options – even with cables choices, I can’t see that it makes economic sense – you’d pay 15x more for content you’d not always want, at the leisure of someone else if they want to show it or not. You can even throw in Hulu+ (which nearly covers all your possible TV options). What I do get is those who want premium TV, like HBO, Showtime, etc or want live sports – but then Netflix was never an option, and thus a price increase is moot.

You’re right though, it is a chicken/egg in regards to pay more now in hopes of getting more. Netflix has proved over 10 years that they “get it”, they don’t just do things without having done research; or they’d have failed as everyone predicted a decade ago.

My point is that $16 for loads of really great content (if you don’t see it, then you’re not looking, or you have distinct – aka unpopular – tastes), ON DEMAND that you simply cannot find anywhere else. One spends $16 for 3 people to eat at McDonalds, or for a movie and small popcorn in a theatre. If it’s economics, than it’s preference, not price.

Comment on I Want What I Want, And I Want It Now by Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 20:38:37 +0000

Netflix is great and thus far I’ve been super impressed with their forward thinking. The problem here is kind of a chicken or the egg deal. They need the buying power to purchase more content but consumers want new content before they are willing to pay more. The issue that they’re are running into is that for most people this is a luxury service and thus only works at a certain price point. Many people that have cancelled their satellite and cable services but the majority probably aren’t going to take that leap yet.

I cancelled my cable subscription for a couple years. For the most part I was fine with it but the Netflix streaming catalog started to wear a little thin for me. I love Netflix and want them to succeed but I’m not willing to make the leap to all discs or all streaming. And the combo is now out of my luxury comfort zone.

My disappointment is not driven by the “I wants”. It’s driven by dollars and cents and what I’m willing to pay for a non-essential service. If you expect subscribers to pay 60% more for something they already have, I don’t think it’s wrong to expect a better service at the moment of the increase. They are not entitled to my money the same as I’m not entitle to their service.

I wish them the best but unfortunately this is probably where Netflix and I part ways. If only for a bit.