to buy Netflix for $50 million). But he despised Blockbuster for its late fees, censoring of content, and excluding smaller, independent titles.
“They were the video-rental equivalent of Starbucks,” Quinones says. “You will find a Blockbuster everywhere, anywhere, and they put a lot of people out of business.” As Netflix ran the video store juggernaut into bankruptcy, Quinones clinged on. He rented hundreds of titles from Netflix, and had a special affinity for horror films and David Lynch productions.
But the streaming service is saying farewell to its signature red envelope and discontinuing its DVD delivery service after a 25-year run. Since the April 18 announcement, subscribers will not be charged for keeping any unreturned discs and may receive up to 10 additional discs by the final shipping date, Sept. 29.
“Sometimes when you buy a movie, from let’s say Amazon or something, you don’t even get to download it to your computer. It stays with them,” Quinones says. “You have access to it anytime you want, but it stays with them.”