NYTimes: Behind the Scenes at NetFlix

Today, the Gray Lady takes a peek behind the NetFlix curtain. Do they find the Great and Powerful Oz, or pissed off customers who’ve been getting the throttling treatment?…

Its reputation, however, has been tarnished slightly by a class-action lawsuit settled earlier this year.

Customers asserted that Netflix sometimes delayed shipments to customers who ordered movies more frequently so it could give higher priority to customers who kept their movies longer.

This practice, called “throttling” by its critics, would allow Netflix to make more money from infrequent renters.

Robin Bikkal of Bedford, N.Y., was not aware of the lawsuit until she read about the settlement in the newspapers, but said after a few years with Netflix she was becoming increasingly dissatisfied.

As soon as a new movie came out in theaters, she would put her name on a Netflix wait list so as to be one of the first to receive the film when it was available to rent.

But “sometimes it would be two or three months before I got it once it came out on DVD,” Ms. Bikkal said. “The longer I was a customer, the worse it got.”

A few months ago she dropped Netflix and ordered premium cable service with HBO, so she could get HBO on Demand and receive movies immediately that she could keep for up to 24 hours. Such services offer far fewer movie options than the online DVD stores, but “I get it right away,” Ms. Bikkal said.

Source: NYtimes.com