An era is coming to an end. Netflixnow a famous streaming platform that has revolutionized the way of watching movies and TV series online, has announced that will close its DVD rental service by mail. September 29 will be the day the giant ships its latest discs from DVD.com, the stand-alone company that has operated the DVD service since 2012.
In announcing the closure of the service, Netflix thanked customers who have rented DVDs with the big red N logo for 25 years. The giant has made it known that from 29 September it will no longer be possible to rent discs and that subscribers will no longer be charged.
Netflix: la DVD era dal 1998 al 2023
It all started in 1998, when Netflix launched its innovative DVD rental service by mail. Customers could subscribe monthly, choose from thousands of titles online, and request up to three discs to be sent at the same time. Then they could return them without deadlines or penalties, thus ending the era Blockbuster, which charged users per rental. First DVD ever shipped? A copy of Beetlejuice. It was March 10, 1998.
The service was convenient, simple and entirely manageable online. Furthermore, the three-DVD-at-a-time mechanism allowed users to manage their schedule of films to watch: you returned one, you kept the other two, and in doing so you could continue to rent while watching the one you liked best.
Within a short time Netflix has become one of the largest entertainment companies in the world, with over 20 million subscribers to its DVD rental service in 2010.
In 2007, the company launched what is now its core business: service streaming online. A real revolution: customers could watch movies without having to wait for the DVD delivered by the courier (and without worrying about returning it). The huge success of the streaming section changed consumer habits forever and is still considered a watershed today.
A few years later, in 2012, the company decided to separate its DVD rental service from the streaming platform. It was born at this point DVD.com. However, the wave of streaming had left indelible marks on the market, and the number of subscribers to the DVD service has gradually decreased year by year. Until the definitive closure announced today.