Long before Netflix turned the entertainment industry upside-down with its streaming service, the company was renting DVDs by mail. Believe it or not, even after Netflix shifted its focus to streaming, the DVD rental service continued, and is actually still active to this day. But after 25 years of shipping red envelopes to mailboxes all around the world, Netflix has announced that it will ship its final discs on September 29th, 2023.
Netflix is shutting down DVD.com this fall
Back in 2021, Netflix acquired the domain DVD.com, which subsequently became the name of its mail rental service. Those who preferred physical media could sign up for the DVD plan instead of Netflix’s streaming service. Currently, Netflix offers three DVD plans: $9.99 for one disc at a time, $14.99 for two discs, and $19.99 for three discs.
If you are one of the remaining DVD.com subscribers, you will have until October 27th, 2023 to return any outstanding discs. Netflix will stop billing all DVD.com subscribers in August, but they can continue to rent discs until the service shuts down. After September 29th, Netflix will cancel all DVD subscriptions automatically.
As for why the DVD service is closing, Netflix offered the following explanation: “Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members, but as the DVD business continues to shrink, that’s going to become increasingly difficult. Making 2023 our Final Season allows us to maintain our quality of service through the last day and go out on a high note.”
Given how often movies are added and removed from our streaming libraries, it’s unfortunate that Netflix is cutting ties with physical media. With the frequency at which streaming licenses for movies and TV shows change hands, sometimes it’s easier to just go out and buy the Blu-ray than try to figure out which service you need to have to watch a new release.
As a parting gift, Netflix shared some fun DVD statistics in an infographic:
