• by mary , September 12, 2011

Sitting at my small college house on a Sunday afternoon, it is so tempting to sign up for Netflix to spend the whole day watching old movies, but what else does Netflix really have to offer?

In comparison to other companies that have similar offers like Blockbuster, OnDemand, Redbox, and any other local video rental store, Netflix’s offers don’t seem to add up for a person my age. To pay $15 a month to wait a week to receive a DVD that I want doesn’t seem like an ideal plan in comparison to other companies. The instant watching options are only for certain movies and shows, which usually are not the most popular ones. The amount of people I know that have deactivated their Netflix accounts after this price increase are countless. That number also includes my own Netflix account that had to be deleted after the price increase occurred. For a company that markets itself as being an instant way to watch great movies, it might need to rethink what kind of movies and offers it can make to be watched instantly.

One big advantage of having Netflix is the ability of putting it on a Roku device and watching it on a T.V. However, if there are not any movie or T.V. show series that are popular and want to be watched by a wide range of people, it is difficult to see even this advantage. For instance, my group of friends loves to watch old episodes of “How I Met Your Mother.” There are no websites online that we can watch the episodes on, Netflix does not offer it instantly, and even if I had a Roku, I would not be able to watch it on my T.V. with any options given on the Roku.

With all of my other options for movie and T.V. show watching, Netflix has become one of the last choices for me. On a lazy Sunday afternoon, we would much rather go to Wal-Mart and buy the discs of “How I Met Your Mother.” That is the only way that we can truly watch the episodes of anything we really like instantly.