Netflix will no longer ship DVDs. This message is likely to trigger only moderate emotions in most people, as if Deutsche Bahn were only now announcing that they would abolish the steam locomotive. In fact, sending DVDs by post in 1997 was the initial spark for Netflix. According to legend, the founder Reed Hastings misplaced a video cassette and was so annoyed about the insane overdraft fees in the video store that he quickly invented a film mail order service.
Of course, the rise to become an entertainment industry giant only came after Netflix got into streaming and the original production business – but the company has also made a good living from DVDs for a long time. And even though most film fans have long since switched, Netflix still made almost $150 million in the US last year with DVDs in the mail. On the corporate blog but it has now been announced that it should be over from September 29th.
Under the heading “The Final Season”, Co-CEO Ted Sarandos writes: “After an incredible 25 years, we have decided to shut down dvd.com later this year. (…) To all those who are in waited in front of the mailbox for our red envelopes this time: Thank you very much.” According to the entry, Netflix has shipped a total of more than five billion DVDs to 40 million customers over the years. The first DVD to ship on March 10, 1998 was the film “Beetlejuice”.