TECHNOLOGY, Amazon Inks Deal With Fox for More Than 2,000 New Streaming Movie Titles

Amazon announced Monday that it would add more than 2,000 TV shows and movies to its streaming video services this fall in a new partnership with Fox. The new content, which includes classic movies like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and TV shows like the X-Files and the cult hit Arrested Development, will bring the total number of instant streaming titles on Amazon to more than 11,000.
The new content would be a great match for Amazon’s long-long rumored tablet expected to be announced on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, it’s been a tough few months for Netflix, but one of the strong selling points the company’s streaming services offer is their compatibility with other devices. There are Netflix streaming apps available for iOS (on both the iPad and the iPhone), Android, and even most game consoles and many TV sets. If Amazon’s tablet can stream from the company’s catalog of instantly available movies and TV shows, it would be the first real competition Netflix has seen on a mobile device.
Netflix isn’t taking all this lying down, however. The company announced its own streaming deal with movie studio DreamWorks Animation. The collaboration will bring that studio’s films and TV specials to Netflix beginning in 2013. The DreamWorks deal probably won’t add 2,000 titles to Netflix's listings, but Netflix already has a significant lead in numbers over Amazon, with over 30,000 streaming titles available through its Instant Watch service.
But, with customers angry at the company’s recent controversial move to split in two and Amazon penning deals this quickly (the company announced a similar deal with CBS back in July), Netflix still has a lot to worry about.
So will you stick with Netflix if you are a subscriber? Or would you consider jumping ship for Amazon? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter or in the Comments section.

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TECHNOLOGY, Blockbuster Movie Pass Wants to Compete with Netflix

Over the past few months Netflix has made some controversial decisions--a price hike and an announcement that the video service would spin off its DVD-by-mail service--that have upset a goodly section of the company’s customers. The real question is: Can other providers capitalize on Netflix customer dissatisfaction?
[Read: Netflix Splits in Two, Adds Video Games, Upsets Users Further]
Dish Network’s new Blockbuster Movie Pass plan, announced Friday, certainly is aimed at Netflix’s dissatisfied customers. The new service from Dish Network offers more than 100,000 movies, TV shows, and games by mail at a flat rate. It also offers 4,000 movies for streaming on your PC at dishonline.com, and another 3,000 for viewing on your television. At $9.99 a month for one disc, this seems like what customers have begged for for months: The old Netflix back at its old price.
In practice, however, things aren’t that simple. To get Blockbuster Movie Pass, you have to be a current Dish Network customer or sign up with the service. Customers have complained that splitting Netflix into two services creates unnecessary confusion and extra work, but the Dish Network plan may be an overreaction in the opposite direction.
[Read: Dish, Blockbuster Announce $10/Month Alternative to Netflix]
While depending on just one source for your streaming video, live TV, and disc-by-mail services does have advantages, it also limits itself to customers who must switch to Dish Network as their provider for all three. Unless you’re happy with every part of the package, you’re paying for something you don’t need.
There are also problems with the streaming service in its current form. While Dish Network touted a superior selection of streaming titles (34,000 to an estimated 31,000 streaming titles from Netflix), those estimates are scattered across two different types of streaming. With the Blockbuster Movie Pass setup, set-top streaming and online streaming have separate libraries of available titles.
Some titles will be available on both, some only on your Dish Network TV, and some online. This arrangement very well could cause confusion for customers. Additionally, Dishonline.com does not yet work on any devices besides your home PC, so customers who want to stream to their tablets or mobile phones are out of luck.
What may really kill the deal for many customers, however, is the price. While Movie Pass is available for $9.99 a month, that price buys you a fairly limited selection of streaming titles. Over half of the promised 34,000 streaming titles are only available when you sign up for a $79.99-a-month America’s “Everything” package from Dish Network. Pay the extra ten bucks a month for your Blockbuster Movie Pass and that means that the Dish Network plan would cost more than ten times more a month than Netflix’s instant watch plan.
Dish Network executives seemed convinced that consumers don’t want to replace their cable and satellite providers and that bundled packages like this week's offering is what customers want. For those who just want the occasional extra movie to supplement their live TV that may be true, but the result is a package that seems tailored to people dissatisfied not with Netflix, but with their cable or satellite provider.
Bottom Line: The Blockbuster Movie Pass is an interesting value-add for Dish Network subscribers, but is too expensive for consumers who just want to dump Netflix.

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Blockbuster Movie Pass Wants to Compete with Netflix

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Over the past few months Netflix has made some controversial decisions--a price hike and an announcement that the video service would spin off its DVD-by-mail service--that have upset a goodly section of the company’s customers. The real question is: Can other providers capitalize on Netflix customer dissatisfaction?

[Read: Netflix Splits in Two, Adds Video Games, Upsets Users Further]

Dish Network’s new Blockbuster Movie Pass plan, announced Friday, certainly is aimed at Netflix’s dissatisfied customers. The new service from Dish Network offers more than 100,000 movies, TV shows, and games by mail at a flat rate. It also offers 4,000 movies for streaming on your PC at dishonline.com, and another 3,000 for viewing on your television. At $9.99 a month for one disc, this seems like what customers have begged for for months: The old Netflix back at its old price.

In practice, however, things aren’t that simple. To get Blockbuster Movie Pass, you have to be a current Dish Network customer or sign up with the service. Customers have complained that splitting Netflix into two services creates unnecessary confusion and extra work, but the Dish Network plan may be an overreaction in the opposite direction.

[Read: Dish, Blockbuster Announce $10/Month Alternative to Netflix]

While depending on just one source for your streaming video, live TV, and disc-by-mail services does have advantages, it also limits itself to customers who must switch to Dish Network as their provider for all three. Unless you’re happy with every part of the package, you’re paying for something you don’t need.

There are also problems with the streaming service in its current form. While Dish Network touted a superior selection of streaming titles (34,000 to an estimated 31,000 streaming titles from Netflix), those estimates are scattered across two different types of streaming. With the Blockbuster Movie Pass setup, set-top streaming and online streaming have separate libraries of available titles.

Some titles will be available on both, some only on your Dish Network TV, and some online. This arrangement very well could cause confusion for customers. Additionally, Dishonline.com does not yet work on any devices besides your home PC, so customers who want to stream to their tablets or mobile phones are out of luck.

What may really kill the deal for many customers, however, is the price. While Movie Pass is available for $9.99 a month, that price buys you a fairly limited selection of streaming titles. Over half of the promised 34,000 streaming titles are only available when you sign up for a $79.99-a-month America’s “Everything” package from Dish Network. Pay the extra ten bucks a month for your Blockbuster Movie Pass and that means that the Dish Network plan would cost more than ten times more a month than Netflix’s instant watch plan.

Dish Network executives seemed convinced that consumers don’t want to replace their cable and satellite providers and that bundled packages like this week's offering is what customers want. For those who just want the occasional extra movie to supplement their live TV that may be true, but the result is a package that seems tailored to people dissatisfied not with Netflix, but with their cable or satellite provider.

Bottom Line: The Blockbuster Movie Pass is an interesting value-add for Dish Network subscribers, but is too expensive for consumers who just want to dump Netflix.

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