Netflix
NFLX,
is allowing all DVD.com subscribers to keep their discs after September 29, free of charge.
“We are not charging for any unreturned discs after 9/29,” the company explained in a tweet. “Please enjoy your final shipments for as long as you like!”
DVD.com subscribers can also get a shipment of up to 10 extra discs after the site shuts down for free as a pseudo going-away gift.
If you were sure that Netflix stopped delivering DVDs a long time ago, or have never heard of DVD.com, here is what to know:
Despite Netflix’s main business as a streamer, the company has still been delivering DVDs, aka “digital video discs” or “digital versatile discs,” to consumers on DVD.com. Like its streaming model, its DVD delivery service has different plan types based on customers’ needs.
The DVD service generated $145.7 million in revenue last year, which translated into somewhere between 1.1 million and 1.3 million subscribers, based on the average prices paid by customers, according to the Associated Press. Netflix made $31.6 billion in revenue in 2022.
Netflix announced it was planning to shut down its DVD-by-mail rental service back in April, a service that Netflix was founded upon prior to the rise of prominence of video streaming.
“Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members, but as the business continues to shrink that’s going to become increasingly difficult,” co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos said in a blog post titled “Netflix DVD — The Final Season.”
See also: Netflix starts testing videogames on TVs and computers
Netflix’s DVD business has dwindled in the past decade from more than $900 million in revenue in 2013.
Netflix originally launched as NetFlix.com in 1998, a direct-to-consumer DVD company and didn’t debut its streaming service until 2007.
The shutdown comes at a strong period for the company’s stock but an uncertain near-future.
Shares of Netflix were trading 5.42% higher on Wednesday and are up 89.69% over the last 12 months, but the company is locked in a feud with the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA).
The writers and actors organizations are independently striking against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which is made up of major movie studios and streaming companies including Netflix, Disney
DIS,
and Sony Pictures
SONY,
in favor of more lucrative royalty checks, more consistent pay periods and stricter rules against the use of artificial intelligence, among other things.
Netflix did not immediately respond to MarketWatch’s request for comment.
See also: Netflix criticized for posting AI jobs paying up to $900,000 while writers and actors are on strike
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