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 29th 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…
—
Thank you for visiting! If you’d like to support our attempts to make a non-clickbaity movie website:
Follow Film Stories on Twitter here, and on Facebook here.
Buy our Film Stories and Film Junior print magazines here.
Become a Patron here.
Related Stories
- Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon to get adult and family cuts on Netflix
James Cameron's bold prediction about the future of cinema is coming true... kind of.
Remember a while back when James Cameron predicted that the future of cinema lay with films having more than one cut? Well, Netflix is taking things in that direction, kind of although not quite in the way that Cameron's futurist thinking predicted.
It's [...]
- Writers’ strike ends at last, details of deal emerge
As the writers' strike ends, it appears that film and TV screenwriters have had most of their demands met. Hopes rise that an end to the actors' strike will follow shortly.
- World’s first cinema that measures audience response to open in UK
Bristol will be home to The Instrument Auditorium, a cinema that measures heart rate, eye movement and brain activity.
From May of next year, production companies and studios will be able to get feedback on the films they are launching like never before. The Instrument Auditorium, opening in Bristol, is a 36-seater cinema that will be [...]
- Wes Anderson’s Henry Sugar to put Roald Dahl front and centre
Wes Anderson confirms that Roald Dahl will appear as a recurring character in the anthology film Henry Sugar.
With Wes Anderson's Asteroid City about to land on PVOD, we've also heard that his next project will shoot later this year. You can catch our review of the former here, whilst we don't know too much about the latter [...]
- Wes Anderson’s espionage thriller will star Benicio del Toro
The Asteroid City filmmaker Wes Anderson is onto pre-production work on his next film, with one out in cinemas and another coming later this year.
Wes Anderson is on a roll when it comes to productivity. The director currently has Asteroid City out in cinemas (you can find our review here). Furthermore, he's also managed to sneak in an adaptation [...]
