Netflix: we knew there would be anger; whatever.

That's the crux of Greg Sandoval's post over at CNET.

[Netflix spokesman Steve] Swasey said Netflix did not go into this with its eyes closed. 

"We are not surprised." -- Steve Swasey

Which, sadly for all of us Netflix subscribers, means that Netflix's decision is final.  No amount of complaints will change their direction.  Though, I have noticed that some people are decidedly thrilled that they can go back to paying lower DVD rental rates without streaming, rewinding back to 2008 (me included.)

On a personal note, I can see it being completely manageable, to do 2-DVD-only plan @ $11.99 combined with free Hulu....aka what I'm doing anyway.  Really, there's only a handful of streams I've done in the past 12 months on Netflix, by comparison to my streaming on free Hulu.

On a related note, I think the reason why they decoupled streaming and DVD rentals, is so that they can independently raise rates in the future - as needed or desired - to adjust profit or incentivize subscribers to change their habits.  Of course, it also shows that Netflix is beginning to exhibit monopolistic behavior.