Is Netflix becoming the new Blockbuster Video?

NBC News

"A variety of unpopular decisions threaten to turn Netflix into the bad guy it once dethroned," says Jason Bailey of the streamer, which is currently making a Blockbuster Video store comedy series. "Is it risking a fall from grace of its own? The complaints from its customers, and from critics online, are not without merit. The company raised its subscription price early this year — the third such price hike in the past four years. But subscribers are increasingly paying more for less; its library of streaming films and TV shows has been steadily declining for years, with the streamer diverting most of its budgeting for licensing fees to the production of in-house originals and acquisitions (and increasingly losing streaming rights to rival services). The library of its DVD-by-mail service, originally the cornerstone of the operation, has similarly shrunk to a shadow of its former self. And countless beloved Netflix original series... have been abruptly canceled, infuriating their enthusiastic fan bases. And what is that fee increase paying for? Increasingly dodgy material — sloppily assembled true crime docuseries, rinky-dink Ryan Reynolds vehicles, carbon-copy rom-coms and pricey 'comedy specials' from transphobes and has-beens. (When Netflix’s comedy account, 'Netflix is a Joke,' posted a dated, unfunny joke from its new Jeff Foxworthy special, several of the copious @-replies quote-tweets specifically mentioned the price hike.) Meanwhile, the company is attempting to further enrich its coffers by cracking down on password sharing, in stark contrast to the suggestion of (checks notes) the official Netflix Twitter account, which tweeted in 2017, 'Love is sharing a password.'"