Blockbuster may be nearly dead, but they’re laughing at Netflix’s new crackdown on sharing passwords from beyond the grave.
The once-revolutionary video rental chain has only one franchise location left, but their social media team is apparently still running based on a Thursday tweet from the company to its former competitor.
After months of speculation, Netflix officially informed its customers on Tuesday that accounts will only be shared within one household. This policy change effectively ends the long-standing practice of friends and family sharing the cost of an account, often from different parts of the country.
This crackdown on password sharing responds to growing competition and a recent loss of new subscribers, a first for the company in more than 10 years.
Since its inception in 1997, the company has become a giant among the streaming service men and has completely transformed the entertainment industry over the past decade with award-winning original content. They have since been joined by services such as Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and the new Max.
This streaming boom came at the expense of Blockbuster, which at its peak had over 9,000 locations and 80,000 employees. They suffered significant losses in the late 2000s, eventually filing for bankruptcy in 2010 and being acquired by Dish Network the following year.
As of 2019, Bend, Oregon has been home to the last franchise store.
The memo sent by Netflix to members said they could transfer the profile of someone outside their household so they could start their own subscription on a separate payment plan or pay an additional $7.99 for each person outside of their household. their household using their account.
The company also said that 100 million households share accounts, representing 43% of its global user base.