I’m cautiously optimistic about the Netflix split, with DVDs being spun off into a completely separate company. I’m partial to the DVD side of the service, and it’s gotten short-shrift for the last couple of years. Now each company can focus on doing what it does best. Qwikster can focus on delivering more awesomeness to my front door, starting with video games. Netflix can pamper Hollywood executives, signing up studios to long term contracts without having to apologize for their take-no-prisoners physical service.
So many of the compromises that they had made or were contemplating (e.g. delaying release of new movies to make studios happy, dumbing down the website to make it feel more like watching TV, deprecating the queue) are now unnecessary. I suppose Qwikster might eventually fail, but I’m happy to know that there’s a management team that’s invested in its future success.
That, and now they can drive that horrible GameFly out of business.
