With Hulu recently discounting their on-demand video service by 20% to $7.99 a month, Netflix has decided to match Hulu’s new monthly price and offer, for the first time in the U.S., a streaming only video service.
NetFlix’s monthly plans have always included some sort of DVD-by-mail plan. But now, with an ever-growing selection of both movies and TV entertainment, some customers don’t even want the mailing option anymore. More NetFlix content is currently being streamed instantly over the Internet than watched on DVDs. So NetFlix is starting a new, lower-priced plan for these customers.
I think it’s worth noting that NetFlix has been in business since 1999, and had the foresight to pre-fix their name with “net” despite the fact that their business would be done via mail for its first decade. It’s like they knew this was coming.