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We liked MoviePass (pretty sure I even posted about it here). Then the CEO went on an idiotic rampage about people “gaming the system” and we got caught in the

We liked MoviePass (pretty sure I even posted about it here). Then the CEO went on an idiotic rampage about people “gaming the system” and we got caught in the crossfire. We used it about 1.5 x per month and loved it. Something came up one night and we couldn’t see the movie we got tickets for. Then they changed to the once-per-film policy, retroactively, meaning we could no longer rebook the movie we missed. I gave their awful customer service 4 attempts at fixing it via the app CS and via Twitter DMs. Oh well! Unlike some here I think they have a big opportunity— yes it’s built in another industry’s back but if they do it right they can end up with their own special events or even buy out distressed theaters and operate independently. Think Netflix moving from licensing to O&O content. Seems like they won’t make it that far though, subscribing to tickets in 2018 isn’t the same barrier of entry as fast HD streaming in 2008 or whenever Netflix nailed it down.

samatman 8y ago
The "Net" in Netflix started as a site where you could rent DVDs, a service that, astonishingly, is still offered. That was the barrier to entry: they had a customer base already paying them for content. MoviePass has no comparable moat.
- ghaff 8y ago
  Why astonishingly? Not everything is available on streaming. Though, unfortunately, having driven all the local DVD rental places out of business, Netflix has been letting their back DVD catalog rot to the point that I'll probably drop my legacy DVD subscription.
- Reedx 8y ago
  It's interesting how incredibly disruptive that was, yet relatively short-lived as the dominant model. It was a good move that they didn't name it DVDFlix or MoviesByMail!
  - malloreon 8y ago
    I vaguely recall reading somewhere that Reed Hastings knew in 1999 that streaming would be a thing and that physical media rentals were a stopgap.
- jsgo 8y ago
  1) our neighborhood doesn't have any typical internet providers in it currently, so I actually prefer dvd.netflix.com 2) as someone else stated, Netflix streaming doesn't have everything whereas dvd.netflix.com fills in a lot of content gaps.
  - samatman 8y ago
    There are a few long tail effects and the sum of it makes sense, sure. The most salient is the difference between buying plastic and buying rights.
    - jsgo 8y ago
      Not disagreeing with the value in the streaming offering, just saying why there is still a market for the rental-by-mail offering existing and why Netflix would still retain the offer (my guess is they probably rip the movies from the rentals and serve those in the streaming when licensing allows and rather than treat the Blurays/DVDs as just a cost of doing business, continue that operation).
      - scarface74 8y ago
        No streaming movie provider “rips” video from a DVD. Netflix gets a digital master and encodes it to various formats/bit rates across an AWS hosted server farm.
psychometry 8y ago
What exactly are you expecting to get "fixed"? You requested a ticket for a movie and didn't show up, potentially depriving someone else of seeing it then. I see no reason why CS should accommodate your request.
- tehwebguy 8y ago
  I expect them to honor the bare minimum policy that was in place when we booked it, nothing more. Until they changed the policy with no notice there would have been no problem with simply getting another ticket to the same movie the a week later. The change retroactively apply to movies we had reserved tickets for before the change.
  - raisedbyninjas 8y ago
    You can cancel a reservation in the app up until you actually make the purchase. Handy for the theaters they don't support remote seat reservation. Showing up to the theater 20 minutes before the showing is getting to be quite the roll of the dice. It's often 30 seats left unreserved on the front row and dozens of empty seats in the actual theater.
    - iwasakabukiman 8y ago
      I have tried (and failed) to use the cancellation system once. My wife and I went to see a movie, it was sold out, so we cancelled our reservation and tried for a different showing. It wouldn’t work. It said we had both used our tickets for the day. We contacted support via the app. They responded to me within two minutes and fixed the issue. We waited for them to respond to my wife’s message. We waited for over an hour. They didn’t respond to my wife for over four hours. So we didn’t see the movie.
- moretai 8y ago
  deprive... Jesus christ. It's a movie.
  - 8y ago

samatman 8y ago

The "Net" in Netflix started as a site where you could rent DVDs, a service that, astonishingly, is still offered. That was the barrier to entry: they had a customer base already paying them for content. MoviePass has no comparable moat.

ghaff 8y ago
Why astonishingly? Not everything is available on streaming. Though, unfortunately, having driven all the local DVD rental places out of business, Netflix has been letting their back DVD catalog rot to the point that I'll probably drop my legacy DVD subscription.
Reedx 8y ago
It's interesting how incredibly disruptive that was, yet relatively short-lived as the dominant model. It was a good move that they didn't name it DVDFlix or MoviesByMail!
- malloreon 8y ago
  I vaguely recall reading somewhere that Reed Hastings knew in 1999 that streaming would be a thing and that physical media rentals were a stopgap.
jsgo 8y ago
1) our neighborhood doesn't have any typical internet providers in it currently, so I actually prefer dvd.netflix.com 2) as someone else stated, Netflix streaming doesn't have everything whereas dvd.netflix.com fills in a lot of content gaps.
- samatman 8y ago
  There are a few long tail effects and the sum of it makes sense, sure. The most salient is the difference between buying plastic and buying rights.
  - jsgo 8y ago
    Not disagreeing with the value in the streaming offering, just saying why there is still a market for the rental-by-mail offering existing and why Netflix would still retain the offer (my guess is they probably rip the movies from the rentals and serve those in the streaming when licensing allows and rather than treat the Blurays/DVDs as just a cost of doing business, continue that operation).
    - scarface74 8y ago
      No streaming movie provider “rips” video from a DVD. Netflix gets a digital master and encodes it to various formats/bit rates across an AWS hosted server farm.

psychometry 8y ago

What exactly are you expecting to get "fixed"? You requested a ticket for a movie and didn't show up, potentially depriving someone else of seeing it then. I see no reason why CS should accommodate your request.

tehwebguy 8y ago
I expect them to honor the bare minimum policy that was in place when we booked it, nothing more. Until they changed the policy with no notice there would have been no problem with simply getting another ticket to the same movie the a week later. The change retroactively apply to movies we had reserved tickets for before the change.
- raisedbyninjas 8y ago
  You can cancel a reservation in the app up until you actually make the purchase. Handy for the theaters they don't support remote seat reservation. Showing up to the theater 20 minutes before the showing is getting to be quite the roll of the dice. It's often 30 seats left unreserved on the front row and dozens of empty seats in the actual theater.
  - iwasakabukiman 8y ago
    I have tried (and failed) to use the cancellation system once. My wife and I went to see a movie, it was sold out, so we cancelled our reservation and tried for a different showing. It wouldn’t work. It said we had both used our tickets for the day. We contacted support via the app. They responded to me within two minutes and fixed the issue. We waited for them to respond to my wife’s message. We waited for over an hour. They didn’t respond to my wife for over four hours. So we didn’t see the movie.
moretai 8y ago
deprive... Jesus christ. It's a movie.
- 8y ago