qwikster

At a time when HBO tries to downplay the suggestion that any significant rivalry exists between it and Netflix, managers there have worked to acquire a Netflix lookalike in Australia.

And get this: the name of this video rental service HBO bought is Quickflix.

Seem familiar? The name sounds like a blend of Netflix and the company's ill-fated spinoff, known as Qwikster. HBO's managers had to know how it would look for the premium cable channel to invest $10 million in a company with a name like that.

Not surprisingly, some media outlets are writing that HBO's … Read more

The father of the iPod creates a cool home thermostat, the Obama campaign joins Tumblr, and Netflix reports its first drop in customers in nearly two years--and it's a doozy.

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings wants subscribers to know he has heard them.

You don't want to order DVDs from a separate service called Qwikster? He trashed that plan.

You don't like paying more for less selection in the company's streaming-video library? He's beating the bushes to get more movies and TV shows. He has also stopped oversimplifying how hard it is to do that. For the first time, he has begun to acknowledge that Netflix faces serious obstacles in licensing content, especially films from the major studios. So, he's putting almost everything on "pause,&… Read more

As expected, Netflix subscribers deserted the company in droves last quarter, after it raised prices on a popular subscription plan and spooked them with a now scuttled attempt to spin off DVD-by-mail operations.

Overall, 800,000 customers fled the company in the quarter ending September 30. Netflix reported 23.8 million domestic subscribers in the quarter, 200,000 fewer than the 24 million the company projected it would have back in September. Even that figure had been revised down from initial estimates of 25 million.

Wall Street is treating the news as a disaster. In after-hours trading Netflix shares plunged $… Read more

At this point, Netflix just needs something, anything, for subscribers and investors to cheer.

For the past three months, Netflix managers have fumbled and bumbled their way into one controversy after another. They could help end the slump tomorrow when the Web's top video-rental service is due to report third-quarter earnings after the close of trading.

Much of the attention will be on the number of U.S. subscribers. Managers initially projected 25 million subscribers, but after announcing an unpopular price hike, they later lowered estimates to 24 million. Those figures may have taken another hit after CEO Reed … Read more

If you haven't already noticed, CNET.com got a big makeover last night, and the new layout makes it much easier to browse the latest reviews, news, and videos from CNET.com and CNETTV.com.… Read more

iPhone 4S pre-orders top 1 million units, Yahoo pulls out of its bid for Hulu, and Netflix announces the cancellation of Qwikster in a brief blog post.

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Video game enthusiasts can hold out hope that Netflix will still make a foray into video game rentals.

Earlier today, Netflix announced that it had canceled plans to break out DVD-by-mail operations into its own service, called Qwikster. Last month, CEO Reed Hastings unveiled the strategy for the new service, which included video game rentals.

While Qwikster may be gone, the idea for enabling people to rent Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 titles is still on the table, Netflix Vice President of Corporate Communications Steve Swasey told CNET.

No word on when a final decision might be made yet, so … Read more

Even after the Web's top video-rental service announced today that it decided to cancel plans to spin off the DVD-by-mail operations into a separate service called Qwikster, there's still a lot of criticism of the company.

Most of the reaction to Netflix's announcement appears to be positive, but only three weeks ago, the Qwikster idea was widely panned. Why do people have a problem now?

"Netflix can't make up their mind," writes Twitter user Lisa Maly.

Perhaps Twitter user Brandon Sullivan sized up the negative reaction best with this post: "People sigh in … Read more