Netflix Axes Qwikster: DVDs And Streaming To Cohabit

Netflix has backtracked on much-criticized plans to rename its DVD rental service Qwikster, announcing that while the business will still be split from the streaming media service, both will operate under the Netflix brand. "This means no change: one website, one account, one password... in other words, no Qwikster" Netflix said this morning, after it had become "clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult."

"Consumers value the simplicity Netflix has always offered and we respect that," Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said in a statement about the about-turn. "There is a difference between moving quickly — which Netflix has done very well for years — and moving too fast, which is what we did in this case."

It's ironically a repeat of just what Hastings said caused Netflix headaches back in July, when the company announced pricing changes that saw some packages increase in cost each month. At the debut of Qwikster, Hastings admitted that the company's business evolution had happened faster than its communications, and that he needed "to be extra-communicative."

The company now says that price changes are done with, and the focus is on increasing the number of streaming options. Previously customers had been warned that they would need to manage their preferences and ratings on two separate sites if they subscribed to both Netflix and the defunct-before-it-started Qwikster, each being operated entirely distinctly.