The Angry Drunk reminds up who is really to blame with the Netflix/Qwikster clusterfuck, as well as iTunes’s DRM, the terrible movie selection in non-US (and, let’s face it, US) iTunes Stores, and more.
Apple and Netflix are happy to sell whatever they can, however you want it. Apple is a store, for God’s sake. Netflix is a service; they want people to use it. They get it. The content providers don’t.
A counterpoint from Outside the Beltway points the fingers through the content providers, at our copyright laws:
For DVDs, Netflix’s rights are unlimited and its costs are constrained. For digital, its rights are constrained and its costs are unlimited. …Netflix must negotiate each and every title, and the price of the right to stream that digital title is up to the whim of the content owner.
(both links via Daring Fireball)