Netflix today said it will not rename its DVD-by-mail service and that its U.S. members will continue to go to the Netflix website for both unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs.
Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings reversed an unpopular decision to separate his company's DVD rental business and online video streaming service. The company said in a September 18 blog post that its DVD-by-mail service would operate at Qwikster.com. Instead, U.S. members will continue to use one website, one account and one password for their movie and TV watching enjoyment under the Netflix brand.
"Consumers value the simplicity Netflix has always offered and we respect that," said Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings. "There is a difference between moving quickly -- which Netflix has done very well for years -- and moving too fast, which is what we did in this case."
Writing on the company blog last month, Hastings
said Netflix was putting the DVD service on a different website and naming it Qwikster as the company separated the business from its growing online streaming offerings. The move would have forced customers of both streaming and DVD options to visit different websites and maintain different accounts for each subscription. Customers also would have received separate credit-card charges.
The announcement prompted confusion from customers who fumed on the Netflix blog and Facebook page.
In a blog statement Hastings said: "It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult." He added, "While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes."