Netflix is getting out of the DVD rental by post business, after 25 years of shipping out discs to watch. More here.
As much as the Netflix we know now is dominated by its streaming service, and its assortment of TV and film productions, it got going all the way back in the 1998s by renting out DVDs. It was one of a bevy of services that spring up that allowed you to pay a monthly fee, and rent an unlimited number of DVDs, with the condition being that you only had a set number at a time. You popped one back in the post, another was soon sent out to you.
Well, that side of the business has been running alongside the extraordinary growth of the company, and it’s only going to be on September 29
th 2023 that Netflix will, it’s been announced, ship out its final DVD by post.
Ted Sarandos, the co-CEO of the firm, announced the move in a post on the company’s official website. “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. So we want to go out on a high, and will be shipping our final discs on September 29, 2023”, he penned.
Here in the UK, there’s still one similar service going strong, and that’s the fine folks over at Cinema Paradiso.
You can find its services here.
But for Netflix? It’s taking its DVDs off into the sunset in six months. Quite what it’ll do with its old stock remains to be seen…
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