Your blockbuster.com plan is changing

Thought I would be able to retain the old plan when the pricing changes were originally announced, but BBI finally dropped the hammer yesterday…

We hope you’re enjoying BLOCKBUSTER Total Access™!

There are some changes to our subscription plan lineup that introduce a new pricing structure and new plans which limit the number of in-store exchanges.

As a result, your current plan, 1 Online DVD out at a time up to 2 per month plus 2 in-store exchanges each month for $5.99, is no longer available.

We’d like to extend you a new plan that includes 1 Online DVD out at a time up to 2 per month plus up to 2 free* in-store exchanges for $7.99.

In addition, exclusively for BLOCKBUSTER Total Access customers, we have introduced in-store movie rentals for $1.99* per movie should you need more than the in-store exchanges included in your plan.

Your new plan will go into effect on your regular monthly billing date following November 1, 2007. If you do not select a new plan by November 1, 2007, we will automatically move you to the new BLOCKBUSTER Total Access plan referenced below as “Your New Plan”.

The new plan is the same one I have currently with a $2 price increase. Gotta love the easy cancellation process. On the other hand, an aggressive promotion of 20% off (first three months) inevitably leads to…

Thanks for joining Netflix! Your sign-up is complete and you’re all set to start adding movies to your Queue (movie list). Add at least six movies so we know what movies to send you.

4 Comments

  • jokah says:

    Last night I tried out Netflix’s instant viewing (streaming video) offering. As someone who is very technically adept, I found the setup to be maddeningly difficult, and I easily spent an hour or so before getting it to play on our TV. The system requirements include a recommendation to install WMP 11, but I ran into the C00D11B1 error repeatedly despite performing all of the upgrades and DRM resets. Interestingly, it worked immediately on an XP Home laptop with WMP 9. I then rolled back the WMP 11 upgrade (to WMP 9) on the XP Pro desktop that is serving as the DVR, reinstalled the Netflix Movie Viewer, and… success! If renaming the All Users\DRM directory doesn’t work for you, here is something else to try.

  • jokah says:

    Looks like recent DRM changes broke Netflix Instant Viewing on my DVR PC. According to the Netflix tech I spoke with recently, the Play button that never activates indicates that an older version of WMP is installed, and installing WMP 11 is the fix. He also suggested that I install from windowsmediaplayer.com (instead of upgrading from within WMP) and choose Express Install. Now that I have reinstalled WMP 11, I am getting the dreaded DRM software error again. Spoke again with Netflix tech support and found out that having only an S-video output creates a conflict with the DRM. One suggestion is to look for an updated driver from Nvidia. The 12/19/2007 update (most recent as of now), however, does not fix this problem. The other suggestion is to plug a monitor into the VGA output on the video card. I am pretty certain that will work, but I find it unacceptable. Screw you, Microsoft.

    Here is a post that says pretty much the same thing:

    http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=55361

  • jokah says:

    Oddly, the streaming video started working a day or so after my last comment. No driver or player updates, no hooking up a spare monitor. Earlier this week, Netflix announced that it will offer instant viewing without limits. Sounds great in print, but it isn’t that exciting really. The available inventory of movies is lacking, the video quality is mediocre, and frequent interruptions to download content turn a 1.5h feature into a three hour ordeal.

  • jokah says:

    For Blockbuster Total Access plans with a limited number of exchanges, the exchange count is reset each calendar month (not billing cycle as I had thought). Good to know.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *