

Amazon Acquires LoveFilm, The Netflix Of Europe - chegra84
http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/20/amazon-acquires-lovefilm-the-netflix-of-europe

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ErrantX
For all the Americans (and probably Europeans, I think LF is mostly a UK
company) it's important to bear in mind that LoveFilm ain't Netflix.

On the other hand; it's the best we've got.

I have a love hate relationship with them - the selection is pretty good and
the service is fine (with only a few hiccups which, given the state of our
postal service is probably understandable). Although; their main UK depot is
about 40 miles from me, and I have heard people out in the wilds have some
issues.

On the down side the online streaming catalogue could be expanded (5,000+
films, but not always the latest releases) and I tend to have trouble getting
popular disks (sometimes they seem to send me random disks from my list for no
apparent reason).

I've been waiting for series 3 of Battlestar Gallactica for about 3 months
now... :P

I'm pleased Amazon are buying them, that's a positive move IMO. Their easily
one of my favourite companies and seem to manage to let their acquisitions
flourish rather than die off. So... looking good :) (and if LF eventually
merges into my Amazon account, win :D)

LF made a statement here btw:
[http://www.lovefilm.com/features/detail.html?editorial_id=32...](http://www.lovefilm.com/features/detail.html?editorial_id=32329)

EDIT: their recommendations engine is pretty dire as well incidentally, that
is probably the main difference from Netflix

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citricsquid
I signed up for Lovefilm earlier this month for the film streaming. I searched
before hand and they had a nice film selection so I figure I'd go for it, if
it sucked I could cancel. I signed up for the best plan that had streaming
included (had no intention of doing postal DVDs) and found the following:

\- The only films you can watch for free (after you've paid the monthly
registration fee) are from before 2007, even though their entire catalogue
contains _newer_ films and it says "Your package includes unlimited online
viewing" and "With access to 5,361 watch online titles" on both the sign up
pages and in my account.

\- After paying £4 for a film (Inception) which I expected to be included in
the first place (a pipe dream I guess) I load it up... it's 360p at best, full
screening makes it unwatchable.

\- I figure if this is the state of it and I have to pay for shitty quality
films I may as well go out and but the DVD, which I wanted to avoid... so I
decided to cancel my account to find it's impossible to do online, you have to
phone up... it was 4am, they were closed.

Terrible experience, but the joke is on me I guess, I didn't realise I could
buy/rent films on iTunes so I'm doing that now.

~~~
ErrantX
Yeh... it leaves a lot to be desired (another "this is not netflix"
situations). Particularly the streaming quality, which is why I don't bother.

I'm on the "three disks at home" package which apparently lets me watch about
4,000 of the streamable ones for free. In the past on cheaper accounts I got
less I think.

In my experience the "top" recent films are always pay-for, and the lesser
known ones are free. I personally don't mind that because I've always enjoyed
indie/arthouse cinema :)

Definitely do not think it is worth it for streaming only.

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felixge
This is weird. Amazon Germany used to operate a "Netflix" offering which they
sold to LoveFilm in 2008. I was actually a customer and canceled at that
point, LoveFilm's site was just terrible.

So now they are buying back what they partially sold in 2008?

~~~
Isofarro
Amazon sold it's DVD rental services in Germany and the UK to Lovefilm for a
48% stake in the company. Today they acquired the outstanding 52%.

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simias
The Netflix of europe? I'm european and I've never heard of LoveFilm before...

~~~
barrkel
Netflix of UK would be far more apt.

I see on their website that they have versions for Germany and most of
Scandinavia, but I have no idea how big they are there, and that's a far cry
from the whole of Europe anyhow.

~~~
michael_dorfman
I'm in Norway, and a film buff, and I've never heard of them before. If
they've done any marketing at all, it has managed to escape me-- which seems
unlikely.

So my guess is: not very big in Scandinavia.

~~~
pirko
I'm in Sweden and I've heard of them but never used the service. I think they
had some commercials on TV a few years ago.

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parenthesis
LoveFilm also white-labels its service. List here:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovefilm#Operate_rental_service...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovefilm#Operate_rental_services_for_other_companies)

It would be interesting to know what proportion of LoveFilm's business is
under its own brand, versus under these other brands, and whether amazon will
continue to white-label the service long term.

