Netflix announces history-making change for subscribers
Netflix has decided to call it quits on its DVD postal subscription service after 25 years. Yes, you heard that right – Netflix has a postal DVD subscription service.
Starting in 1998, the first DVD to be shipped was Beetlejuice which was sent out on March 10 from the company's site DVD.com.
Netflix has said it has shipped over 5.2 billion titles in that time, with the 2009 Sandra Bullock hit The Blind Side being its most popular postal title.
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In a tweet from Netflix's official account on April 18, it said: "After an incredible 25-year run, we've decided to wind down DVD.com later this year.
"To everyone who ever added a DVD to their queue or waited by the mailbox for a red envelope to arrive: Thank you!"
The tweet was met with kind words from subscribers commenting about the first films they received and memories of films that had impacted them.
The service is to shut down on September 29 this year and will still continue to accept returns of customers' remaining DVDs until the end of October.
After an incredible 25 year run, we’ve decided to wind down https://t.co/6h2lrcGg2b later this year.
To everyone who ever added a DVD to their queue or waited by the mailbox for a red envelope to arrive: Thank you! https://t.co/McxJUlLlGF pic.twitter.com/nBXzgvvv7p— Netflix (@netflix) April 18, 2023
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A statement from the co-chief executive of Netflix, Ted Sarandos, said: "Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members but as the business continues to shrink that's going to become increasingly difficult. So, we want to go out on a high, and will be shipping our final discs on September 29, 2023.
"Those iconic red envelopes changed the way people watched shows and movies at home – and they paved the way for the shift to streaming. From the beginning, our members loved the choice and control that direct-to-consumer entertainment offered: the wide variety of the titles and the ability to binge-watch entire series."
Over the years, the red envelope service is cited to have had 40 million subscribers.
The closure of the service mirrors Netflix's recent show Blockbuster, a comedy starring Brooklyn Nine-Nine 's Melissa Fumero and WandaVision's Randall Park about the last video rental store left in America. Blockbuster was cancelled after one season.
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