Netflix is taking the next step in separating its DVD-by-mail business from its instant streaming business; a name change.
In a blog posted on Netflix.com on Sunday, CEO Reed Hastings announced the DVD portion of his business will be renamed to Qwikster. The announcement comes several weeks after the company shocked members by announcing they would now be required to pay for the DVDs separately; raising their total monthly costs. The earlier announcement reportedly caused a high number of cancellations.
According to Hastings, members will access their DVD queues at www.qwikster.com and the famous red DVD envelopes will have the Qwikster logo on them. The site will not be integrated with Netflix.com. As a result, members subscribing to both will have to making billing changes on two sites instead of one. Some other features will also be lost, such as having a movie in the DVD queue automatically being added to the instant streaming queue once it becomes available in that format.
According to Hastings’ blog, the new company will also have a different CEO; Andy Rendich.
As part of the change, Hastings said the new company will offer a “video game” upgrade that will allow members to rent games for Nintendo Wii, PS3 or Xbox. This is to fill a demand the company has had from members, Hastings says in the blog.
Hastings also promises a “substantial” increase in the streaming content available on Netflix.com.