I don't understand why people forget they have the DVD business. That's why I subscribed, and I've always been a subscriber. Everything comes out on DVD eventually, so you can watch almost anything through Netflix if you're willing to wait. And there's plenty of media there to fill the time.
I guess what it often comes down to for me is that I don't really need a video rental store (online/shipping or brick and mortar) too often. For the one or two movies I consider "must see" each year, I go to the theater. For the ones that I still definitely want to check out later, there are on-demand streaming rentals that allow me to decide what to watch and have it there immediately.
Then as films get farther and farther from their release windows, they turn up on HBO or Netflix streaming, etc. It's just a smaller niche for me between wanting to see it at release and not caring when I get around to watching it.
Since Netflix added streaming it's essentially taken the place of basic cable for me (rather than replacing Blockbuster). With basic cable you can't always count on something being on at a given time but you can usually skim through the options and find something enjoyable. That's how I am with Netflix. The only difference is that Netflix costs $10/mo whereas basic cable costs $50+.
I like the fact that a company is managing to compete with cable networks without actually being a (traditional) cable network. Their shows may not always beat the best of HBO but they sure as hell beat USA, TBS, and the long list of "random shows and movies" cable channels.
Its still a good service and their ability to turn around disks so quickly was a huge advantage to them for years. They wisely realized, however, that the DVD business would die slowly and got very competitive about streaming. I'm sure you can enjoy the dvd mailing for at least a few more years before they begin closing those large warehouses down one by one.
I don't understand why people forget they have the DVD business.
Presumably because it is becoming a smaller and smaller part of their business. That's the reason they wanted to spin it off as Quikster. DVD rental also isn't available on the subscription package that most users have.
