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DVD-by-mail services allow a person to rent DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, video games and VCDs, among other film media online; for delivery by mail. Generally, all interaction between the renter and the rental company takes place through the company's website.
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Most companies operate on the following model:
Most companies will let customers keep the films for as long as they want; customers are, however, limited to a set number of discs out at any one time. Commonly, once a disc is returned, another is sent out. Some companies or plans may have a limit on the total number of movies rented in a month. Memberships are usually billed monthly, and includes postage both ways.
Examples of online rental companies Blockbuster Video Online, Netflix, eHit, Zip.ca and LOVEFiLM.
Variation: Variations exist; for example, Some companies also offer video game rentals while others offer music. Redbox allows a user to reserve DVDs or Blu-ray discs online to retrieve and return the DVD at Interactive kiosks located in various retail establishments.
Comparison websites can be used to compare the features and price of various online rental DVD companies.[1]
Most companies provide variations on five basic types of membership plans:
Given sufficiently speedy mail delivery times, customers on "Unlimited" plans who turn around their discs quickly enough can receive enough shipments in a month that the company's actual cost of delivery exceeds the subscription fee, making the company unprofitable. Even below this point, higher volume customers are by definition less profitable than customers who receive fewer discs per month. If these customers become too numerous, there are various measures which the rental company can take. One is the so-called "throttling" approach, which received a fair amount of publicity with regard to Netflix (which refers to the practice as a "fairness algorithm"[3]). In this case, high-volume customers may experience a greater likelihood of (slower) shipments from alternate warehouses, when the nearest shipment centre does not have the requested movie. Also, if there is a high demand for a particular movie, it is more likely that an infrequent renter will get priority over the frequent renters, with the latter receiving a movie further down on their queue.[4] They are also less likely to receive replacement shipments on the same day a disc is received. Similar "fair use" caveats can be found in the Terms and Conditions of leading UK companies such as LOVEFiLM. In Canada, Zip.ca switched to "Capped" plans (with additional shipping charges for rentals over the cap) in part to avoid implementing "throttling".
LOVEFiLM came under scrutiny from users over its claim to offer "unlimited" movie rentals. Some users reportedly found the company used long delays at the shipping stage to reduce the number of films a month a customer can rent. The company was subject to a dispute by the Advertising Standards Authority over the use of the word "unlimited" in their advertising. It was revealed that they practiced throttling.[5] The company itself claimed that this "fair usage" policy means all customers get a similar service.
On March 2, 2006, Blockbuster announced[6] that their service does not implement throttling. "We don't prioritize our customers' movie fulfilment based on how often they use our service, and we don't limit the number of movies a subscriber receives each month," according to Senior Vice-President Shayne Evangelist. However, the Terms and Conditions each customer has to agree to in order to subscribe to the service states "BLOCKBUSTER Online reserves the right to determine product allocation among members in its sole discretion. In determining product allocation, we use various factors including, but not limited to, (i) the historical rental volume for each subscriber, (ii) historical number of outstanding rentals relative to the maximum number of outstanding BLOCKBUSTER Online Rentals allowed under a subscriber's plan, and (iii) the average rental queue position of BLOCKBUSTER Online Rentals that have shipped to a subscriber in the past."[7] concerning their Selection and Allocation of Product, which could be read as contradicting this announcement.
This form of film rental is closely tied to the mode of delivery.[8] The performance of the postal service in various countries can differ, and delivery times also depend in part on a country's geography. A relatively small, densely populated area such as Great Britain poses different delivery challenges to a large area such as the United States (where the major companies have developed a network of regional distribution centres). There are also country-specific implications of the DVD region coding system / Blu-ray Disc region coding system, and even studio distribution rights within regions. For these and other reasons online Blu-ray/DVD rental companies tend to operate in a single country, and even should a company expand to multiple markets, local delivery infrastructure would be required in most cases, as cross-border shipping is impractical in all but speciality cases. Relative pricing levels may also vary depending on the market, the local wholesale cost of Blu-ray/DVD product, etc. Following is a summary of the main English-speaking markets.
Netflix is the prototype for the entire industry and still the dominant company in the U.S.,[8] ending 2008 with 9.39 million customers.[9] Blockbuster Video claimed 1 million online customers in August 2005, 2 million by March 2006, and finished the first quarter of 2007 with 3 million.[10] There are no recent published numbers for Blockbuster Online since 2007. Walmart briefly entered the market as well, but withdrew in 2005 and now has a cross-promotional agreement with Netflix.[11]
There are a number of smaller companies, some of which target specific niches: eHit, the first such niche company, came online in 2000 targeting fans of Asian films; specifically Japan, China, and Korea, expanding to include other countries’ films over time. eHit pioneered some rental and user options later adopted by the majority of online rental companies: the ability to filter previously rented films from standard browsing views and the ability to rate movies that have not been rented from that company. eHit was also the first company to rent entire series as a single, set price rental.
Adult DVDEmpire and GoFlix.com are examples of adult-only rental companies offering a wide range of adult entertainment. CinFlix offers only imported films released outside of the United States in non-region 1 coding, including some American films, targeting the vast English As Second Language market. PuritanPicks.com and ChristianCinema both offer Christian entertainment. BushidoDVD.com came online in 2005 and is an example of an instructional DVD rental company offering martial arts training videos for rent. DanceFlix.com offers instructional dance related DVDs. SmartFlix.com specializes in "how to" DVDs in a wide range of subjects like welding, metal working and flying kites.
Estimates put the number of Canadian subscribers at 70–80,000, with Zip.ca having around 50,000. Other competitors include Cinemail.ca, Videomatica.ca, and Kaku.ca. A common feature in Canadian plans is a refill feature where a customer is mailed by the rental company the replacement disc as soon as the customer has indicated that a DVD has been returned in the post. The extent and availability of refill varies by company. Some companies also have a vacation or suspension feature.
Blockbuster Online started DVD Rentals in Mexico during 2007, after the chain acquired a local startup called MovieNet. Initially, the service was only for condos & corporate offices; In 2008, they are going to expand the coverage in open zones (home deliveries through motorcycles personnel just like the former MovieNet did). Apparently the project was canceled due to the results during the first year.
Blockbuster Online started DVD rentals in Brazil during 2006 and now offers Blu-ray plans as well. The 3-disc unlimited rental plan costs R$49.90/month with unlimited exchanges [1]. Along the decade, the number of online rental services in Brazil has rocketed up. Among the most popular are NetMovies and Pipoca Online.
Given the relatively small geographical area and high population density of the UK, online DVD rentals have some differences from in the US, as a single shipping facility can serve the entire country. There are a large number of companies, but many are actually separately branded versions of the dominant company, LoveFilm, which provide the website, fulfilment and support services. In most cases the partner is a company with access to a large existing customer base (supermarket chains, newspapers, media companies, etc.) which it can direct to its branded site. Each brand may have slight differences in price, quantity, website features or ancillary benefits, but the actual DVD service will be from the same source.
In April 2006, LoveFilm merged with its major rival Video Island, which had operated ScreenSelect and other brands,[12] and in February 2008, LoveFilm acquired Amazon's DVD rental business in the UK and German markets. In return, Amazon became the largest shareholder of LoveFilm.[13][14][15] Remaining competitors include Blockbuster.
On 9 September 2009 DVD rental comparison site 'Choose DVD Rental' pointed out that market pressures were forcing many smaller UK online DVD rental sites to shut down. [16]
There are several providers in Australia, the most prominent being Quickflix (listed on the Australian Stock Exchange) and BigPond Movies. Information on the Quickflix site lists over 50,000 DVD titles on offer. Quickflix's has over 80,000 subscribers and is considered market leader. BigPond Movies announced in June 2011 that they will be pulling out of the DVD-by-mail market at the end of September 2011 and are, instead, offering subscribers the option of downloading movies directly via their proprietary T-box device.
There were three online DVD rental companies in New Zealand, all offering flat-rate packages. The three companies were DVD Unlimited, Fatso and Movieshack.
On June 7, 2008 all three companies merged into Fatso, owned by SKY Network Television.
Hollywoodclicks and Videohub are the two most established online DVD rental services in Singapore. Hollywoodclicks was the first to market, followed by Video Ezy Online. Video Ezy Online rental service was shut down at the start of 2009 and was converted to a home delivery service.
There are several online DVD rental services in India, all running their own delivery systems and logistics. Unlike online DVD rental companies in other countries, online DVD rental services in India do not use the postal service as a means of delivery or exchange.
India's first online DVD rental service Clixflix started in 2004, and was followed by several others like SeventyMM, EZEVID,MovieMart, Madhouse, Cinebox, CineSprite, CatchFlix and HomeView in no particular order. Madhouse and Seventymm have merged and the combine is now known as Seventymm.
The model has been tweaked in India to suit the local marketplace. Cinebox serves in Ahmedabad city only with their own shipping service. Clixflix serves members through stores, phones, SMS and the internet. Madhouse uses drop boxes. SeventyMM and Catchflix operate wholly online models. Cinesprite operates a multiple delivery model. Another powerful contender is Bigflix from the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (Reliance ADA) Group one of India's largest business houses. Currently there are three national level companies providing online DVD rentals:
Cinesprite and Clixflix have closed their operations.
Major online rental Blu-ray Disc and DVD companies are Rakuten rental and Tsutaya discas and Posren
The first company to use this model in South Africa was PushPlay, launched in July 2006. Initially they delivered to Cape Town only, and they deliver using the postal service. DVDs Online[17] offer a similar service, but courier to the door. They are therefore more expensive, but offer quicker deliveries. BigPix[18] launched in Durban in June 2007, also using the Post Office. Signals Home Entertainment a video rental store, located in Lansdowne, Cape Town rents out DVDs, Blu-ray movies and Games online, also using a courier company to deliver and collect discs to their users.