Is it just me, or is Netflix's selection of streaming movies taking a nosedive?

If you are a true movie buff, you don't just do Netflix streaming. They have a pretty small and mediocre movie selection and the streaming is inconsistent quality-wise. We have the BluRay/DVD option for movies (3 out at a time) and use the streaming service for tv shows/documentaries and some original content.

So... 8 dollars a month? No. With that you get what you pay for. Mostly crap for commoners.

You want Criterion, obscure, weird or cool art house movies? Then get the BluRay/DVD Netflix service. That's where the best selection is. For now.

Much like it is for music, streaming is still a long way off for delivering a quality viewing experience to the discerning movie buff.

 

I am not a "Commoner", not an "Elitist", but a girl that loves movies and TV shows.

Repeat, it is EIGHT DOLLARS a month! 2 bucks a week.
Well worth it.

 

A semi-random aside concerning Netflix's "by mail" disc service, it’s worth noting that at some point in the last year or two, they switched to only running their distribution centers five days per week instead of six. I re-upped the disc plan (I also have Netflix and Amazon streaming) late last year for my yearly Halloween movie selections, and noticed they were no longer receiving or sending discs on Saturdays, and that disc delivery times were sporadically a bit slower (sometimes two days instead of one). I was then having a much longer turnaround time. Instead of getting a disc on Saturday, popping it in the mail, and then seeing a new disc arrive by Wednesday, then getting that disc in the mail and getting another one by Saturday, I was getting the first disc on Monday, getting the second disc on Thursday, and then not getting the next disc after that until the following Tuesday, and that was all assuming one-day delivery times.

It’s well known that Netflix has been trying to slowly choke out their own by-mail division, so none of this is surprising. But not exactly a company that gives me the warm-and-fuzzies. They continue to run that branch of the company, so it presumably turns a profit. If that is indeed the case, then I don't super enjoy supporting a company that will choke out one of its own divisions not because it's running at a loss, but simply because they could shuttle *some* of those customers over to another service with less overhead and more profit.

Is Netflix expensive at $8 to $10 per month? No, and it’s indeed true that if you watch even three or four movies per month, it’s a good deal. I still subscribe. But it is turning into a “meh, it’s not a bad deal” sort of situation rather than an awesome, “tell you friends about it and recommend it!” sort of situation. I used to sometimes go to “Ross – Dress for Less!” stores a few years ago and almost every trip found at least one $3.99 DVD or Blu-ray disc that might be worth buying that I might want. It was a good deal for the price. But I never recommended to anyone that they go shopping for movies at Ross.

Netflix continues to thrive, in part, on a “you’re watching it because it’s there” mentality for some users. It’s why, as one comedian put it, you end up paying for a subscription and watching a documentary on lobsters. It’s not that the documentary isn’t interesting, and there’s something to be said for being prodded to watch something you wouldn’t have rented at Blockbuster in the olden days. But at what point is it less a haven for movie and TV connoisseurs and more like flipping through magazines in a waiting room?

 

It's still turning a profit, but declining every quarter. It used to be a huge cash cow for them, even as streaming was taking off, but not so much anymore. I imagine they are cutting costs on it to try and extend the life as long as possible before they eventually decide to drop it altogether, or maybe sell it off.

On the subject of Netflix's movie selection

Why Some Of Your Favorite Movies Are Disappearing From Netflix
http://fortune.com/2015/08/31/movies-epix-netflix-hunger-games/?xid=yahoo_fortune

 

I wanted to get back into watching Futurama this week, but when I looked it up on Netflix, all they had was Seasons 7-10... WTF?
They used to have *all* the seasons available... why are some of them now gone?
And how is having only seasons 7-10 useful to *anyone*?

F*** you, Netflix.

 

It's more the case of F*** you Futurama license holders.

 

Futurama was on Fox for the first part of it's run, then the 4 independently developed movies, then on Comedy Central. So Netflix might that one or two, not all three.

 

Well, license holders or not, it's still a prime example of why Netflix is frustratingly unreliable, and why it borders on being completely worthless to people like me who have large DVD & Blu-ray collections. Until the day Netflix can guarantee that I'll be able to watch *any* movie I want, at *any time*, then my own personal film library will continue to be a better choice.

 

That will never, ever happen, on any single platform, for the same licensing reasons.

 

Well, it's both to be honest.

Futurama license holders want money. Netflix wants to not spend money. It's entirely possible that the licensing rate for Futurama didn't increase and instead Netflix decided it wasn't worth licensing for whatever reason (low viewership or low promotional value).

 

Does your library system have it?

I've slowed down adding movies to my personal collection, but I have started checking out blu-rays from the library to supplement my Netflix rentals. The library system here would be smaller than Toronto's, so they only have the DVDs. Perhaps you can check out the blu-rays.

 

I know that this is off topic, but I need to say something.

**** you Hulu. I attempted to watch an episode of The Brady Bunch, but I get this message instead.

Hi There! Start watching The Brady Bunch with a free trial of Hulu.
Get unlimited access to our entire collection of hit TV shows and movies with a Hulu subscription.
Start My Free Trial
Already have a Hulu Subscription? Log In

**** you Hulu, **** you.

Whatever happened to Hulu being free? Is it not free anymore?

 

Nope, no more free Hulu. They went to a subscription service last summer.

 

Is there another site where I can watch the show?

 

It looks like some guy on Youtube has all of season 1.
THE BRADY BUNCH SEASON 1 FULL EPISODES - YouTube

 

Thanks!

 

Yep. Viacom shows are dropping off Hulu for paid customers as well. That means all Comedy Central, MTV, etc.

I was watching "Ridiculousness" for years as escapism, and now they're all gone.

Same reason Spotify, Tidal, Apple, etc. can never replace your own curated music collection. One day, your favorite music can just disappear. Poof! Short of a fire or a thief, that ain't happening to my CDs.

 

...or CD rot...

 

The last several movies & TV shows I've tried looking up on Netflix were all unavailable..... I can't believe people actually pay for this worthless service.

 

Ridiculous. Joe Cocker Doc " Mad Dog With Soul " Just Added To Netflix

 

I wonder then how they got to be such a behemoth service, in over 180 countries with revenues that allows them to invest $8 billion in original productions and be in more households than those with DVRs?

People always dump on Netflix because they have a specific movie in mind that they want to watch and can't find it. That's understandable, I guess, but Netflix was never meant to be a sole repository of all entertainment, and it never will be due to licensing constraints.

However, you need to have a different mindset when using Netflix. It's more a browsing portal for content discovery, with an ever changing smorgasbord of titles, both licensed and original. It's the difference between browsing a DVD store's shelves vs wanting a specific movie - if the DVD store doesn't have it, you will need to go to a different one (or a different streaming service).

 

Extras w/Ricky Gervais !!! I loved this show a decade ago. Time for a rewatch.

 

If it was just a movie or two that I couldn't find, that would be one thing.
But when 99% of the titles I try looking up are unavailable, then the "dumping on" is well-deserved.

 

Well, then Netflix is not for you, but how do you account for its enormous and still growing popularity, its business model that all the legacy networks are scrambling to emulate? You're critical of the service for reasons it never claimed to provide - ie, all movies all of the time. That's not its core business and never will be. So to label it as a 'worthless service' is going a little too far, just because it's not right for you.

 

You're misunderstanding Netflix and expecting it to be something it's not. If you go looking for a movie then as you found, it won't be there 99 percent of the time. They've been focusing on original content and as a documentary fan, they've made some good docs and they license lots of well known and critically acclaimed docs as well. They did docs on Nina Simone, Tony Bennett, Keith Richards and Bob Weir. If you haven't seen The Battered Bastards of Baseball it's a must see. Their Roger Stone and Amanda Knox docs were also excellent. They have a whole lot of kids programming - very smart because once your kid gets into some of the shows then you can't get rid of it. This might surprise you:

List of original programs distributed by Netflix

Netflix's first self-commissioned original content series House of Cards was released in 2013, and the company has dramatically grown its original content since that time. Netflix released an estimated 126 original series or films in 2016, more than any other single American network or cable channel.[1] All programming, which is in English unless stated otherwise, is organized by their primary genre or format, and sorted by premiere date.

List of original programs distributed by Netflix - Wikipedia

Whether or not Netflix will survive remains to be seen as they pump many billions into original programming and expanding around the world. I have to respect them because they really seem to be gamblers in this new world of video consumption. I've been a member for about 10 years. They used to illegally throttle me on the DVD's years ago and that was after they had already lost a class action lawsuit for throttling. Ha!