Economy Dives, Netflix Profits and Blu-ray Subs Soar

The economy is tanking, Circuit City is dying, and Netflix posted a 30% increase in profits. It makes sense — the cost of a night out at the movies, especially for the whole family costs more than months worth of Netflix subscription fees.

While new subscriber numbers will probably slow due to the economy, the earnings come from existing subscribers, who are already fans of the service. Who needs advertising when you already have loyal customers?

Interesting factoid: if Netflix members drove to and from a rental store, they'd consume 800,000 gallons of gasoline and release more than 2.2 million tons of CO2, annually.

In Blu-ray news . . .

Netflix has said it expects that 500,000 subscribers of their current 8.7 million subscribers will pay the $1.00 per month premium for Blu-ray this quarter. This fee provides unlimited access to Blu-ray movies.

Warning: If you don't want to rent Blu-ray discs, you must specify that and adjust your account accordingly on your Netflix account. The Blu-ray premium will automatically appear on your statements after November 5th.

Is it worth $1.00/month for Blu-ray? Especially if you have a Blu-ray player or Playstation, it seems a small price to pay for unlimited Blu-ray. —Leslie Shapiro

Market Watch Profit News

Reuters Blu-ray News

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