4:00 PM Netflix gets a taste of Charlie Ergen's wrath, but he isn't calling them pigs ... yet
4:00 PM -- It's not on par with Dish Network LLC (Nasdaq: DISH)'s old Don't Feed the Pig campaign against cable, but Charlie Ergen & Co. has put Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) squarely in its marketing crosshairs.
It didn't take long for Dish, Blockbuster Inc. 's new owner, to boot up a new customer-acquisition campaign targeted at Netflix subs who are upset and possibly ripe for churn after Netflix recently decided to split out its unlimited DVD and streaming plans and jack up pricing for subs who want both. (See Netflix Subs Revolt .)
How many subs are fleeing is anecdotal at this point -- USA Today's unscientific poll showed that nearly two thirds of 6,000 respondents said they'll be chucking their subscriptions as a result.
But who can blame Blockbuster, a company that got bloodied pretty good as it fought through bankruptcy, for trying to grab some low-hanging fruit?
In this case, Blockbuster's offering Netflix subs (they have to show proof) a free 30-day trial to its two Total Access plans before making them pay $9.99 per month for its one-disc plan and $14.99 for its two-disc option, with the added incentive of offering DVD titles 28 days before Netflix gets them, plus access to Xbox, Playstation 3 and Wii games. Dish's offer is good through mid-September.
I've been a Netflix sub for about four years, and I'm still on the fence here as I'm perturbed, but not really outraged, by the changes, which will jack up my subscription by about 30 percent. Granted, I don't watch many DVDs through the service, so I'm ignoring the Blockbuster offer. Plus, I'm a fan of Netflix's streaming service, already having hooked it up to a laptop, a Blu-ray player, a Wii, a PS3 and an iPad.
What say you, Netflix subscribers? Are these changes enough for you to jump ship, and what do you think of the Blockbuster offer?
— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable
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