Netflix Separates Its Sites for DVDs & Streaming, But Will It Improve Anything?

Published September 19, 2011

By Lindsay Sakraida, dealnews Features Director

A few weeks ago, dealnews addressed the Netflix pricing changes by laying out the alternative streaming options. Our conclusion was that, as far as on-demand online entertainment goes, Netflix is still the best option around. And according to this morning's announcement, that may be all Netflix will offer in the future (technically speaking, that is).

That's because the Netflix CEO published a statement yesterday that described a future plan to divide its DVD and media streaming services further by placing them on two completely separate web sites. DVD users, meet Qwikster, described as "launching soon." Streaming users, don't get excited: It's still Netflix for you.

It seemingly shouldn't be more than a name change for anyone completely split among the services; if you're part of the 11% of our voters who claimed they would keep DVDs only, you'll just have to change your bookmarks. (You'll also be able to rent video games, with an upgrade.) But for the 16% that said you're keeping DVDs in addition to streaming, the separation could be tedious as the queues between the two won't be integrated. It's also unclear if you can view a title's DVD and streaming availability simultaneously, which might mean jumping between the two to view your options.

We suppose the logic is this: If the services are separate, then the new pricing scheme doesn't seem as batty. But surely Netflix doesn't think its customers will just forget that they used to have one glorious combined plan. Since our last piece brought on heated discussion and epic voting, we thought we'd throw this development out to our deal-seeking readers once again.

Image credit: Kate Bingamen-Burt via Flickr

Please note that, although prices sometimes fluctuate or expire unexpectedly, all products and deals mentioned in this feature were available at the lowest total price we could find at the time of publication (unless otherwise specified).

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