Netflix announces the end of 25 years of DVD leasing business and mails the last CD at the end of September

CTOnews.com, April 19 (Xinhua) streaming giant Netflix announced in a blog post on Tuesday that it is gradually shutting down its DVD-by-mail mail rental business, a service that has been in place for about 25 years.

The company said its DVD leasing business had been shrinking and would not be able to continue to provide quality services. Netflix will mail the last CD on September 29.

"these iconic red mailing packages have changed the way people watch programs and movies at home, paving the way for a shift to streaming," Ted Sarandos, co-chief executive of Netflix, said in a blog post.

In his autobiography, Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph describes how he and co-founder Reed Hastings came up with the idea of challenging Blockbuster Video with mail-order VHS videotapes, but the cost is too high. Instead, they found a more cost-effective proposal: selling and renting DVD online.

The new generation of DVD players first went on sale in the United States in 1997, and the service was launched in 1998, the first time Netflix gambled on emerging technologies, and it clearly won the bet. Rival Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy in 2010.

It is worth mentioning that when Netflix tried to separate its DVD rental business from online streaming into a stand-alone service called Qwikster in 2011, it sparked an outcry from consumers and the plan was eventually cancelled.