Netflix comes to Canada

[CoffeeCup]

Make room on that sinking ship America, Canada will be joining you on it in the fall

Netflix to offer Internet movies, TV programming in Canada starting this fall

TORONTO - Canadians will have another way to watch movies this fall when popular California-based Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq:NFLX) launches its streaming video services for the first time outside the United States.

The company, famous for revolutionizing the way Americans rent DVDs by sending them through the mail, announced Monday that it will start offering movies and television shows in Canada for a flat-rate monthly fee.

However, Netflix says its services will not include shipping DVDs through the mail like it does in the U.S.

Instead, the company hopes to build its Canadian presence by streaming movies through the Internet to computers and other devices like the Xbox 360, iPads and the PlayStation 3.

"Netflix members in the U.S. are showing us that streaming is more and more popular and a greater convenience," said Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey in a phone interview.

The company didn't say how much it will charge for the service, though it offers tiered packages in the U.S. that allow more programming options for a higher price.

Competition has been heating up in the past few years for Canadians' entertainment dollars, particularly in the home entertainment market.

Similar on-demand Internet online programming services are being rolled out by several Canadian companies, particularly Quebecor's Videotron (TSX:QBR.B) and Rogers Communications (TSX:RCI.B).

The cable operators have built elaborate on-demand services on TVs , and to a lesser extent online, that aim to bring new release movies to homes on the same day as video stores, while offering an extensive back catalogue of television and movies.

Earlier this month, Sony Canada launched a new section of its PlayStation store that allows users to rent or buy movies through the PlayStation 3, similar to how Apple's iTunes store sells movies and TV shows.

Zip.ca operates a mail-order DVD service similar to Netflix in the U.S., and has promised to launch its own streaming video services in the near future.

The growing number of options has put the pinch on more traditional DVD retailers like Blockbuster Video and Rogers, which a few years ago rebranded its DVD and video games stores as Rogers Plus to accommodate a stronger focus on mobile phone products and cable services.

Netflix says Canada will be the first international market for its Internet subscription service. The company had planned to test the water in the U.K., but backed out before the service launched.

[zooworker]

Anyone seen this desperate attempt for Canada BBI?

This week, the movie rental retailer said it will offer Canada members a $9.99 per month plan that will allow them to rent unlimited movies (one at a time). The "Favorites Pass" program does not include Blu-ray discs or new releases.

Like this will help much.............people want new movies and Bluray.

[CoffeeCup]

Originally Posted by zooworker

Anyone seen this desperate attempt for Canada BBI?

This week, the movie rental retailer said it will offer Canada members a $9.99 per month plan that will allow them to rent unlimited movies (one at a time). The "Favorites Pass" program does not include Blu-ray discs or new releases.

Like this will help much.............people want new movies and Bluray.

Oh contraire, people are all over this pass since we launched it (with no POP even) 3 weeks ago. I have a regular who comes in and changes his movies at least twice a day. We cant be making any money off the guy, but he's awesome and fun to talk to..we're averaging about 15 a week at this point, but we just got the signs up for it today, so we'll see if that helps..

[MamaSmurf]

Originally Posted by CoffeeCup

Oh contraire, people are all over this pass since we launched it (with no POP even) 3 weeks ago. I have a regular who comes in and changes his movies at least twice a day. We cant be making any money off the guy, but he's awesome and fun to talk to..we're averaging about 15 a week at this point, but we just got the signs up for it today, so we'll see if that helps..

On the other hand, we can't give this pass away. We have tons of 3-pack customers, but no one thinks the one-out-at-a time is a good deal. What's even selling worse is the $2 bundle (pop and popcorn). I think if we still had Coke, and not Pepsi it may do better.

And today, they launched the pay-as-you-go game pass, which I hope will do well, but people are funny about spending $30 at once, even if it saves them $10 each game rental.

[Paradigm]

Jealous! I always prefered pepsi products!

[CoffeeCup]

Originally Posted by MamaSmurf

On the other hand, we can't give this pass away. We have tons of 3-pack customers, but no one thinks the one-out-at-a time is a good deal. What's even selling worse is the $2 bundle (pop and popcorn). I think if we still had Coke, and not Pepsi it may do better.

And today, they launched the pay-as-you-go game pass, which I hope will do well, but people are funny about spending $30 at once, even if it saves them $10 each game rental.

It would probably work better if we had actual stock for games and got more than 1 copy, but i guess that would be a logical solution

[katiebell]

Originally Posted by CoffeeCup

I have a regular who comes in and changes his movies at least twice a day. We cant be making any money off the guy, but he's awesome and fun to talk to.

This "fun to talk to" will wear off quickly. I thought this too, but now many of these exchange people are just a pain in the behind.

#1 They "NEVER" spend any money in the store, hence wasting labor on a transaction.

#2 Coming in several times a day they are burning them and probably selling them to their friends. Which makes us loose even more money.

#3 Seeing the same person every day this many times just becomes annoying. Knowing that the first 2 things keep happening over and over!

#4 They get sooo impatient when you are checking out "paying" customers, or God forbid you have to change the register tape, get change from the safe or answer the phone.

I guess my biggest complaint is simply the fact that there is no direct revenue generated for the store and the amount of labor wasted on "non-productive" task created by exchange customers.

[BUYMECAR]

i love my pass customers.

they learn faster than some of the employees we've hired, that's for damn sure.

[CoffeeCup]

Originally Posted by katiebell

This "fun to talk to" will wear off quickly. I thought this too, but now many these exchange people are just a pain in the behind.

#1 They "NEVER" spend any money in the store, hence wasting labor on a transaction.

#2 Coming in several times a day they are burning them and probably selling them to their friends. Which makes us loose even more money.

#3 Seeing the same person every day this many times just becomes annoying. Knowing that the first 2 things keep happening over and over!

#4 They get sooo impatient when you are checking out "paying" customers, or God forbid you have to change the register tape, get change from the safe or answer the phone.

I guess my biggest complaint is simply the fact that there is no direct revenue generated for the store and the amount of labor wasted on "non-productive" task created by exchange customers.

Normally i'd agree, however this one particular customer is in the film business, and when he's not working he rents movies and studies them. I love when he comes in, because it's usually during the day when it's quiet and we can talk about movies..he has very similar tastes to me so it's fun to find movies he hasnt seen that i liked and have him come back the next day to let me know if he liked them or not.

That, and he may only spend 9.99$ a month, but he LOVES our store. He is always telling me how much he loves me and my staff, and that he's so happy that he has our store to come to that he is willing to pay the 10 bucks when he could walk another 5 minutes to get things free from the library very easily. Doesnt make us money, but it's always nice to hear good things about my store and staff sometimes

It's a nice counterbalance to the 10 "But i'm a gold member, i shouldnt have to pay late fees!" customers i get on a daily basis. We litterally have 1/3 of our active members gold. Not gonna tell you where we place on the list because then everyone would know what store i'm at, but we're always very high up on the national ranking for frequency.

[bbemp_can]

I remember printing the e-mail for this one. It sounds like a pretty good value, i'm sure a 2/3 out at a time might be more popular. I can foresee us loosing money on this, but we have to compete with netflix after all.

They had a story about netflix coming to Canada on our national news earlier this week, and it was all like "Is this the end of the video store...?" , and then it said how BB is competing by introducing an unlimited 9.99 pass for renting movies. They did not specify that its only BSI or that its 1 out at a time. I can picture people coming in all excited thinking it can be for NR and then being all ....????

Maybe in the future we'll have NR passes like the USA, but for right now we just have the game pass and this new one.

Question:
For anyone who has signed up someone: Does the pass auto-renew at the end of the month and charge it to their acct, or do they have to renew every 30 days. If it doesn't, I can see someone's pass expiring when the cust still has a movie, them still kepping it and having it asold or member-owned. Also, does it work on kids movies? I know for golds they can get a free bsi with a NR-but it doesn't work on kids.

I totally agree about gold-members. They think they should be exempt from things or get special treatment. Your free bsi/membership is good enough!

What's even selling worse is the $2 bundle (pop and popcorn). I think if we still had Coke, and not Pepsi it may do better.

Whoa! We used to have coke!!??? I did not know this! And its the same at my store too, we're not selling to much of the bundle.

The pay as you go game-pass sounds like a good idea. I know a lot of people that wouldn't sign up was because they didn't have a CC. So i guess it doesn't auto-renew then- people will have to be careful that they bring their games back before it expires lol. With games being so expensive to rent, I think it will be more popular now.