Why is Netflix Punishing Customers who want DVDs?

Netflix, a subscription based DVD rental service that has been popular for many years (and probably one of the the reasons why Blockbuster retail stores are having such a hard time making money these days) has recently made changes that appear to alienate the company's most loyal customers.

In an attempt to influence customers who rent DVDs from them to move away from physical discs and embrace the company's instant video streaming service to watch movies, Netflix has not only removed the option for customers to add DVDs to their queue using streaming devices but the company has also changed their rental plans to favor a "Watch Instantly" service more than their DVD rental service.

Customer who still want to rent DVDs from Netflix will have to pay nearly twice as much as they did before the company decided to make a move over to streaming movies. Netflix isn't even the least bit concerned about their customer's interests. Instead, they want their customers to either get on this instant streaming bandwagon, or end up paying a higher price (Under Netflix's current movie rental plan, 1 DVDs out at a time costs $9.99 per month and 2 DVDs are priced at $14.99 and then it goes up from there while the instant streaming plan only costs $7.99 per month) to rent DVDs.

The company's actions show that Netflix does not care about their customers needs. They appear to only be concerned with riding the tide and making business decisions that are in the company's best interests. Netflix can still operate as a modern company and still be popular in their market without trying to abandon DVDs altogether, so why don't they even take that into consideration?

Trying to force customers to adapt to an instant streaming service may help Netflix make the transformation that they desire but will definitely cause many of their current customers to either stop renting movies altogether or move to one of many Netflix competitors including Blockbuster, iTunes, Amazon and Redbox.

Current Netflix customers have expressed their reaction to the new changes by simply professing "If they cancel DVDs in the mail, I'm canceling my service..." and hey, if a lot of customers feel this way, then Netflix may not be getting a lot of business within the next two years.....or at least they won't be getting them from the average person who is not a tech geek or get their entertainment exclusively through new gadgets and streaming devices.

After FCC just approved the Comcast merger with NBC Universal, now movie fans have to put up with this?!! Netflix used to be a fun and convenient way to be able to rent movies that people may have missed in theaters but now, just like Comcast, it seems that Netflix is only concerned with being in a position to make as much money as they can, even if it means ignoring the needs and interests of their customers.

Why should Netflix expect customers to use their instant streaming service exclusively and abandon DVDs when a large portion of their movie titles aren't even available to stream instantly?

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Hollywood Box Office Hits meet Devastating Water Facts for Blog Action Day 2010

In support of Blog Action Day 2010, here are three examples of how movies that many of us enjoy as a simple form of entertainment can also be used as reminders to be grateful for having access to clean water and sanitation systems. These examples are inspired by facts about water provided by the team over at Change.org that are a cause for concern and reason to make better decisions that will improve one of our world's most precious resource. Three questions about water are also sprinkled throughout these examples for those of you who want to answer them in the comments section of this post.

Fact 1: Unsafe drinking water and lack of sanitation kills more people annually than all forms of violence.

In Erin Brockovich, Julia Roberts reminds the lawyers of a utility company accused of polluting the water supply that their drinking water was “brought in special” for them...straight from one of their client's wells. The lawyer who planned to take a sip of water from her glass quickly changed her mind and put the glass back down on the table after finding out where the water came from. This lawyer appeared to be concerned about her health despite the fact that she represented a company accused of contamination.

While it was used as a form of entertainment, this particular movie is based on a true story. The behavior of the female lawyer in this scene with Julia Roberts' “Erin Brockovich” character is an example of our unwillingness to be concerned about contaminated water, so long as it does not directly affect us.

Fact 2: Africa is home to many women and children who spend 109 hours walking to get water daily using cisterns that can weigh up to 40 pounds and the water is often times still polluted.

In the James Bond film Quantum of Solace, Daniel Craig (who plays Bond) leaves one of his enemies stranded in a desert with nothing more than a can of motor oil and a departing message that the enemy will get 20 miles across the desert before considering drinking the oil. Later in the movie, James Bond's boss reveals that this particular enemy was found shot dead with motor oil in his stomach. Now I don't know about the rest of you all but I have yet to know of anyone in my town or other parts of the country that have walked, drove, ran or carpooled even one mile for access to clean water.

Most of us just turn on the faucet or take a trip to the nearest grocery store for bottled water. Water is so available that many adults and children who have this resource may take their very access to it for granted. The sad part about realizing this is that if it really came down to it, some people in our society would likely fight their own neighbors to steal resources rather than try to work together as a group to obtain and manage the water supply that is available to them.

Question for readers: How far would YOU walk to get access to clean water?

Fact 3: More people have access to a cell phone than a toilet

In Big Daddy, Adam Sandler's character teaches his son how to urinate on the wall outside of a restaurant. Despite the Hollywood element, this type of behavior is all too real in some parts of the world because the people living in these areas have no other choice. Many of us (hopefully) in America would not dare encourage public urination by children and especially by adults. The behavior is usually frowned upon because it is inconsiderate and gross. The unfortunate reality is that some men, women and children in other countries may consider a toilet to be a luxury.....while those of us who have these tools to dispose of human waste consider it to be a basic item that is automatically provided with four walls and a roof.

Limited access to toilets is one of many facts about water provided by the Blog Action Day 2010 team that stands out to me because in our American society, a lot of citizens are in favor of always demonstrating proper etiquette over behavior that may be directly related to survival tactics, such as public urination in tough circumstances. Many homeless people in our country do not have access to toilets 24/7, which causes them to urinate where they can...usually in the streets or subways, but that's another topic of concern in and of itself. According to the Blog Action Day team, over 2 billion people lack access to toilets, which leads to more problems such as bacteria that contaminates the water supply as a result of sewage spilling into rivers and streams.

Despite social norms, it probably wouldn't be necessary for a men, women and children to concern themselves with possibly offending someone if they ended up urinating on a wall like Adam Sandler and his son in Big Daddy due to a lack of resources for sanitation.

Another Question for readers: What would YOU do if you did not have access to a toilet?

Considering all of these facts about water combined, especially the issues of little to no sanitation and access to clean water, it seems like you're damned if you drink and damned if you don't. At the end of the day, those of us who do have access to clean water may want to be grateful that we do have it and try to make efforts to help those that lack access to clean water in their own part of the world, whether that help is given in the form of monetary donations to organizations that help other human beings get , recycling efforts that reduce water pollution or actively participating in methods of conservation so that we don't waste any of the clean water that we use on a daily basis.

What are some movie scenes that remind you of the importance of access to clean drinking water, or clean water period?

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Fuck the Cheerleader, Save the Actors!

All of the superpowers in the world could not keep Heroes on air for more than four seasons but it still had a strong run thanks to talented actors who brought the characters and their stories to life each week on NBC, in the first place. Much like the production of Heroes, many other television shows would likely not succeed without a great and well paid cast. Actors are generally among the most essential elements necessary to complete a movie or television show, so it’s understandable that actors (especially SAG actors, since union dues are paid for a reason) should expect to be paid reasonably for their contributions to these productions.

However, a 2009 deal that involved the Screen Actors Guild (aka SAG) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) caused many actors to be in a frenzy about their wages. In a nutshell, the proposed deal included changes to residual payments for reruns of TV shows that are shown online. For those of you who are wondering “what are residual payments?” I’ll sum it up like this: Residuals are payments that actors receive in addition to their regular wages.

Under the new deal, SAG actors would not receive residual payments for the first few months that a TV show is online and then would receive somewhere around $30 or so in residuals as the TV show continues to rerun in new media markets (online) for about one year.

On one angle, I can understand why many actors would not like this type of deal because one of the benefits of being a SAG member is that it comes with perks that many working citizens in almost any profession take for granted such as pensions, health insurance and having worker’s rights advocates on your side. You can also get paid really well by working on productions with SAG contracts, especially those high profile projects like Heroes, The Mentalist or House for example. Before this deal, an actor who landed a role on one network TV show received $800 for working on this production and then earned over $3,000 within a two-year period after reruns of the same TV show brought the actor $2,700 in residual payments.

Using this scenario again, the new deal with AMPTP and SAG that many actors urged their peers to vote “no” on in 2009 would provide the actor with less residual payment amounts, possibly bringing this worker’s overall earnings to well under $1000. Now, this is where the cheerleader (oh, that sweet Claire Bennet) gets screwed right up the butt like she’s one of the supporting characters in Caveh Zahedi’s I am a Sex Addict. If SAG actors strike over residuals for online reruns and delay the shooting schedule on TV productions, then what happens when these actors cannot get paid at all because the shows are getting canceled due to low ratings after TV fans get tired of waiting for it to come back on air and changed the channel to ……I don’t know The Hills or ……Real Housewives of Atlanta?

I’ll tell you what happens….the actors now do not have a job! Good luck complaining about residuals when the day rates aren’t even there because the show is gone. This is what could happen (especially for actors who are in the midst of building their careers to the point where they can demand million dollar per-episode deals like Ray Romano, and then residuals won’t even matter) if actors stay focused on one trivial factor such as residuals rather than considering the bigger picture.

TV and the internet are two different mediums, which may call for a significant modification to payments made to SAG actors, including residuals. Some actors may not like it, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. Does anyone even take into consideration that TV studios may not be bringing in the same amount of advertising revenue online that they bring in on the tube? Maybe this revenue will improve in the future for the “new media” sector but right now, online advertising is still fairly new as networks and studios try to figure out how to monetize their video streaming content (or downloads or whatever they are offering to television fans via the internet) for maximum profits.

A 30 second commercial on American Idol went for $745,000 in 2007 but the same numbers may not transfer over into the online video streaming world, even if it's a rerun of TV shows like Grey's Anatomy and House. I actually like the fact that many network TV shows rerun online within a few days of airing. It gives TV fans the chance to check out an episode they may have missed due to work or social schedules and other responsibilities.

If the studios are not making a lot of money online, what makes a SAG actor think he or she is entitled to receive large residuals for online reruns of popular TV shows?

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