Blockbuster Takes A Shot At Netflix's Password Sharing Ban

To the delight of its followers, Blockbuster poked fun at Netflix using nostalgia as its Twitter account took a shot at the streamer’s latest password-sharing ban.

Love is sharing a password.

— Netflix (@netflix) March 10, 2017

People are calling out the streaming giant for its past Twitter post on March 11, 2017, which stated the following:

Love is sharing a password.

Many are commenting about how unloving the streaming service now appears, and the recent post from its past major competitor had been fuelling the fire. A lot of people still remember the time when physical VHS tapes and DVDs of popular movies could be rented out via Netflix. The arrangement was simple: you find one you like but not enough to buy your own copy, so you opt to rent it to watch and give it back at the appointed time.

The concept worked for such a significant amount of time. And for years, the video rental company grew and expanded its operations, thriving on the business design of renting out physical copies of popular movies. It was doing great until that eventful day when Netflix founder Reed Hastings developed the new concept that put the late penalty fees off the table.

Hastings’ design was that as long as the member pays the monthly flat rate subscription, they wouldn’t need to settle late fees. Also, at the time, the start-up company sent DVDs straight to its subscribers’ homes for a flat monthly rate. Now, given the new streaming service, there is no need to have physical DVDs.

However, what was once an advantage to the new company’s subscribers is now an added fee they are unhappy about. Netflix is now implementing the one subscription per household policy, where the use of the streaming service can only be shared within one household.

This puts off families and friends who share the service but are doing so in different households. When the service detects a different internet connection, it assumes that the user is in a different household.

Blockbuster Fires A Shot At Netflix’s Password-Sharing Ban

A friendly reminder that when you used to rent videos from us. We didn’t care who you shared it with… As long as you returned it on time. @netflix

— Blockbuster (@blockbuster) May 25, 2023

Still without a blue or yellow check mark, @blockbuster tweeted a post reminding people of their policy while it tagged its streaming competitor. It read:

A friendly reminder that when you used to rent videos from us. We didn’t care who you shared it with… As long as you returned it on time.

@netflix

Since its posting, the tweet now has 62.3K retweets, 8,211 quotes, 413.2K likes, and 4,112 bookmarks on top of 21.4M views. The post is indeed making its rounds as commenters praise the handler of the account, who says he is just an intern in the company. Some are even wondering if he is the CEO considering the current company size is now just one store left in Bend, Oregon.

The once “Goliath” of a video rental company got defeated in biblical proportions when it refused to buy then “David” Netflix. Business Insider posted the rise and fall of the company during its peak, it had 9,000 stores all over the world, earning $5.9B in revenue. 16% of that revenue, which was about $800M, came from late return fees.

Blockbuster Might Just Make A Comeback On Netflix

Credit: Netflix

In the recent Blockbuster post, they reiterated that the copy that is rented out only needed to be returned on time no matter how many times or wherever it was viewed. While the post poked fun at the current policy being implemented by one of the largest and most influential streaming services, many got reminded of their happy times with video rental stores, especially during its peak years.

Even though a series about the last store standing streamed on its past competition last year and failed to gain traction to support a follow-up season, people are saying that the once popular video rental store might just be making a comeback.

While it did pass up on the chance of buying its future business-ender, every current activity on its site and on Twitter suggests that Blockbuster is finding its way to getting back in the game. To what form? A video rental store tourist spot? An Airbnb chain? A new streaming service? That is still anybody’s guess.

What do you make of this news? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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Source

Twitter

Source

Business Insider