Even without the huge library discs in the mail had a big advantage over streaming: recent movies.
To offer a movie as part of their subscription a streaming service has to have permission from the studio. Generally only one streaming service has that permission.
With discs no studio permission is required, as long as the rental service doesn't want to make their own copies. If they just buy retail copies and rent those out it is covered by the first sale doctrine.
With discs then all I would need is a subscription to one disc based service, like Netflix used to offer, and my recent movie needs would be covered.
There is an alternative that is kind of like the streaming equivalent of Netflix's old mail order DVD business for those whose ISP is Comcast if you have been a Comcast customer long enough.
Comcast has a rewards program, with the rewards based on how long you've been a customer. One of the rewards is $1 movie rentals. Once a week they make this available on their rewards site. If you claim it that week you can rent any one movie that weekend that they normally rent for $5.99 or less for $1.
To offer a movie as part of their subscription a streaming service has to have permission from the studio. Generally only one streaming service has that permission.
With discs no studio permission is required, as long as the rental service doesn't want to make their own copies. If they just buy retail copies and rent those out it is covered by the first sale doctrine.
With discs then all I would need is a subscription to one disc based service, like Netflix used to offer, and my recent movie needs would be covered.
There is an alternative that is kind of like the streaming equivalent of Netflix's old mail order DVD business for those whose ISP is Comcast if you have been a Comcast customer long enough.
Comcast has a rewards program, with the rewards based on how long you've been a customer. One of the rewards is $1 movie rentals. Once a week they make this available on their rewards site. If you claim it that week you can rent any one movie that weekend that they normally rent for $5.99 or less for $1.