[TheGRS]

> ...for the money you pay.

That's where I'll have to stop you, as its still a very cheap service comparatively.

I worked at Blockbuster toward the end of their run, it was about $4-7 dollars for a single rental.

Current streaming rentals on Amazon range from $4-8 as well.

Netflix, streaming only, is currently $13 per month.

The only alternative I think is very good is HBO, which is $15 per month. They usually have before-cable-run-but-after-initial-rental-period movies. And they have a handful of stellar TV shows. We still struggle to find something to watch on that service.

[adventured]

> I worked at Blockbuster toward the end of their run, it was about $4-7 dollars for a single rental. Current streaming rentals on Amazon range from $4-8 as well.

Blockbuster at that price isn't a great example. Redbox Blu-rays are $2.12. I live in an area with a relatively low population density and there are three Redbox machines within short driving distance. Each with a solid selection of new releases (Aquaman, Glass, The Mule, Into the Spider-verse, Green Book et al.). Redbox has ~34,000 locations.

[freewilly1040]

So assuming a movie or two a week you're paying maybe a few dollars less than Netflix? And you have to drive there? Netflix sounds way better than that.

[kolbe]

Blockbuster is irrelevant. They had to pay for real estate and retail employees, and had a much better selection. Streaming is a completely different business.

Netflix disks are a better comp. They cost the same as streaming does and while the selection is far better, the limited capacity is far worse for most people.

The real competition will probably end up being piracy, eventually. Netflix streaming is getting worse content. And if this decline continues, piracy will become much more favorable.

[inciampati]

I am a habitual pirate. I'm the kind who wants to pirate media because I believe that the media system is a lifesucking waste exploiting the rest of society. If I can drop their profits then maybe they will spend more on the cheap stuff (good writing and ideas) and less on the eyecandy and marketing. At best, they fade out of existence and we go back to swapping stories orally.

So at some point I decided that a subscription service with almost everything I was interested in would socialize things appropriately and reduce the transaction costs so that piracy and this anarchic tendency wouldn't be worthwhile. After a few years of using the service, I feel that it is only a moderate convenience. In the end my watching habits haven't changed. I am saving some time downloading random things from random horrible websites. But the selection is horrific. There is no way to actively decide to watch something. There are just a handful of options. There are no classics. It's worse than the selection on an international flight. And it's getting expensive.

[bluedino]

Famil Video has rentals for $2-4