Dish Network's $10/Month Blockbuster Movie Pass Bats Eyes at Netflix Customers
Dish Network's $10/Month Blockbuster Movie Pass Bats Eyes at Netflix Customers
Posted 09/23/2011 at 2:32pm
| by Paul Lilly
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Angry Netflix customer, meet Dish Network's Blockbuster Movie Pass. Blockbuster Movie Pass, meet angry Netflix customer. Now that you've both been introduced, let's sit and talk for a moment and see if this is a relationship worth pursuing, shall we? Whoa there angry Netflix customer, put your credit card away, let's get to know each other first.
Let's start with angry Netflix customer. He's a good catch, has disposable income, and loves movies. His relationship with Netflix is best described as "complicated." You see, they've been dating for years, but have been growing apart in recent months. They used to spend evenings and weekends watching DVDs, but now all Netflix wants to do is stream with friends. Angry Netflix customer is okay with that, except Netflix is having a tough time hanging onto its friends, like Starz and Showtime. The relationship feels stagnant, communication isn't where it should be, and angry Netflix customer is willing to see others.
Now let's get to know Blockbuster Movie Pass. She's new in town and just wants to have fun without all the crazy drama. She's a fairly cheap date and into all kinds of things. For $10/month, she'll play the one DVD-by-mail game ($15 for two, $20 for three DVDs), including Blu-ray titles at no extra charge. She knows how to stream (more than 3,000 movies to the TV, 4,000 to the PC, and hundreds of on-demand TV shows). Blockbuster Movie Pass is into videogames and has access to more than 3,000 Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and Wii games by mail. She doesn't care if you exchange an unlimited number of DVDs and games at participating Blockbuster stores, and she's down to watch more than 20 premium entertainment movie channels from MGM, Epix, Sony, and others.
There's another side to Blockbuster Movie Pass, one that could kill this relationship before it even gets started. She's a daddy's girl and won't go anywhere without Dish Network, at least not for the time being. If you want to play with Blockbuster Move Pass, you have to hang out with Dish Network, too. That could get awkward if you're friends with DirecTV or local cable. The good news is from October 1 through January 31, 2012, Dish Network will pay for your dates with Blockbuster Movie Pass for three months if you're new to Dish. After that you're on your own, but still have to welcome both into your home.
So how about it angry Netflix customer, does Blockbuster Movie Pass tickle your fancy? If not, there are still plenty of other fish in the sea, and we know of at least a dozen.
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techievega
September 29, 2011 at 7:53pm
DISH Network has a huge customer base that loves TV. They love being able to sit in front of their HDTV's and enjoy a live baseball game or settle the kids down and watch the newest episode of Sponge Bob. DISH has always catered to their customers; for example they're always coming out with innovative technology like creating a way for subscribers to watch their live TV programming while they're out of the house or in another country. Now DISH is offering a powerhouse library of DVD's, streaming and video games to their customers for a low price. As a subscriber and current employee at DISH I'm thrilled about the Blockbuster Movie Pass that starts this October 1st! I've already cancelled my Gamefly and Netflix subscriptions because I'd rather deal with paying one bill for a ton of entertainment options. This may not be for everyone, but there is a large mass of consumers out there that wouldn't mind having so much value from one dependable company.
PERSHON
September 26, 2011 at 3:55pm
The outrage over Netflix boils down to really bad management decisions, especially on communications. Every customer should have been contacted with the complete explanation of what Netflix was going to do with streaming and DVD accounts. Then each customer should have been given time to make a choices. One of the choices should have been a discount for taking both options, even if in the future they sell off the streaming.
Instead they just jack up the prices with no notice. I found out after I noticed my credit card charged a high number without any notice. If I find any othe choice that works for me I will dump Netflix just because of the lame treatment of me as a customer. On top of that the writter of the email that went out to customers from the CEO did such a poor job that instead of feeling an appology I felt kicked again.
alexc
September 26, 2011 at 11:45am
I use streaming services because I don't want to use a cable or satellite provider. If this deal split from Dish then I would get it in a heartbeat.
praack
September 26, 2011 at 7:30am
I expected this model from dish/blockbuster since dish bought out blockbuster.
though it will not help with my needs (I don't plan on a 50 dollar minumum dish entry just to pick up the service) I wonder what happens when dish watches thier top tier dwindle when people dump it to switch to block buster instead.
why keep all those movie channels and a package at 100 or over and add blockbust on top of it?
mysterymantis
September 25, 2011 at 2:26am
Blockbuster apparently is as "crazy" as Netflix. Why in the F would you limit your customer base by requiring people to have someone else's service to use it? There are too many reasons this is not a good idea...
1. It increases the cost to use your service.
2. It adds the liability that they can dictate the use of your service, and increase the cost to continue doing so.
3. It ensures that your customer base can never be any larger than theirs.
(I'm just gonna stop at three, even though I'm sure I can keep going.)
It's like the idea of proprietary versus standard. Sure, it sounds like a good idea to limit the customer's options, but in the end, it really isn't one. Ultimately, someone else will offer better options, or even just options period. Not only will you lose what you had, you will now have to change your entire business model to attract people back, while also nursing a bruised image.
Raswan
September 25, 2011 at 1:02pm
You do realize that Blockbuster was purchased by Dish a long time ago, right? So there is no such thing as a solo entity called Blockbuster at this point. Dish paid a few billion for the right to use the name and whatever licensing they had left.
BadCommand
September 24, 2011 at 7:51pm
The Dish component for streaming is a deal breaker. It never ceases to amaze me how shortsighted companies are towards whats needed for true market penetration. But then again when you aquire a company like Blockbuster at fire sale prices- you don't need to be too smart.
I agree with you Stinky Fartface (now that's a sentence I wouldn't have guessed I'd be using today)- rumor is Amazon has their sight's set on the streaming side of Netflix and that would make huge sense.
stige
September 23, 2011 at 2:55pm
no. Netflix streaming ins't broken.
what's broken is people's perception of the value Netflix represents.
nmanguy
September 23, 2011 at 6:48pm
What's broken is Netflix getting its balls busted by media owners who want absurd prices and lead to this mess.
Stinky Fartface
September 24, 2011 at 10:14am
Except that Netflix has voluntarily thrown all its eggs in the basket with the one who are breaking their balls (sorry for the double metaphor). I was kinda ok with them charging more for the services (although I think they should have offered a price break for both combined), but separating the company into two was a stupid move. It makes it unnecessarily difficult to manage and maintain. The only logic behind it is if they want to sell off that portion of their business entirely.
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