It's the end of an era for Netflix.
The company has announced it's officially ending its DVD rental business after more than two decades. "On September 29th, 2023, we will send out the last red envelope," Netflix said in a tweet. "It has been a true pleasure and honor to deliver movie nights to our wonderful members for 25 years."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But believe it or not, Netflix has maintained its DVD rental business all this time, though it now does so on DVD.com rather than the main Netflix site. The DVD service reportedly had more than two million subscribers as of 2019. In 2011, Netflix infamously announced plans to spin off its DVD business as Qwikster, but the idea was walked back after backlash.
On its DVD.com website, Netflix said "we've made the difficult decision to wind down" the service because "the DVD business continues to shrink." Discs will be shipped until the end of September, with returns accepted until the end of October. The decision comes after a challenging year for Netflix, which lost subscribers in 2022 for the first time in over a decade. On Tuesday, the company announced it added fewer subscribers than analysts expected.
"Those iconic red envelopes changed the way people watched shows and movies at home — and they paved the way for the shift to streaming," Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said, thanking "everyone who ever added a DVD to their queue or waited by the mailbox for a red envelope to arrive."
-
‘They’re nervous about playing the game’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Will Netanyahu get a pardon?Today's Big Question Opponents say yes, if he steps down
-
December’s books feature otherworldly tales, a literary icon’s life story and an adult royal rompThe Week Recommends This month's new releases include ‘The Heir Apparent’ by Rebecca Armitage and ‘Tailored Realities’ by Brandon Sanderson
-
The 8 best sci-fi series of all timethe week recommends Imagining — and fearing — the future continues to give us compelling and thoughtful television
-
The 8 best action movies of the 21st centurythe week recommends Thrills come in many forms, from assassins and spies to regular people fighting for justice
-
The 5 best narco movies of all timethe week recommends Cartels from hell and the greasy underside of the international drug trade
-
The Beast in Me: a ‘gleefully horrible story’The Week Recommends Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys star in a ‘gleefully horrible story’
-
The 8 greatest heist movies of all timethe week recommends True stories, social commentary and pure escapism highlight these great robbery movies
-
Gen Z in Los Angeles, the end of ‘Stranger Things’ and a new mystery from the creator of ‘Breaking Bad’ in November TVthe week recommends This month's new television releases include ‘I Love L.A.,’ ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘Pluribus’
-
The 5 best political thriller series of the 21st centuryThe Week Recommends Viewers can binge on most anything, including espionage and the formation of parliamentary coalitions
-
The 5 best TV shows about the mobThe Week Recommends From the show that launched TV’s golden age to a Batman spin-off, viewers can’t get enough of these magnificent mobsters
