Netflix discontinues all mature titles (1 Viewer)

[John Telleria]

When I checked my queue on Netflix last night I noticed that every single one of the "mature" titles in my queue had been moved to the Unreleased queue with release date "unknown". This includes all Playboy and Penthouse dvd titles, soft porn, even the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue dvd! So I emailed Netflix customer service to find out what happened and this is what their reply was.
"Netflix will discontinue its selection of films in the Mature category, which consisted of erotic-style films also available at Amazon and Ebay. This category consists of less than 1% of Netflix's business and has not been proven viable."
This is the last straw! This is my last month with Netflix. How dare they take away our option to rent adult titles! Most of the time newer movie dvd releases are checked out, so I've enjoyed having the option to rent mature titles when the movie I want isn't available. Now that choice has been taken away. I have a hard time believing mature titles only accounted for 1% of Netflix's business. That's bull! Many of the "mature" titles in my queue were consistently checked out. It's censorship, plain and simple, and I won't put up with it. Netflix, you are the weakest link! Goodbye!

 

[Brad Nilsson]

This isn't censorship, its a business/political decision made by the owner. The owner was recently proposed as head of the California state Board of Education and has come under some heat because of some of the materials Netflix rents.
For more info, see:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...9/MNW23142.DTL

 

[Gavin K]

From the same article:
"Hastings says he has no intention of pulling any of the titles -- saying that what he offers is no different from what customers can get from, say, Amazon. "
I, too, have a hard time believing the 1% statistic as well.
While I don't necessarily equate this with censorship, I do think this situation is kind of weasely.
Netflix is a discrete, mail-order service, it's not like they're advertising porn during the family hour, or in an actual physical location where children might accidentally catch a glimpse.
If Hastings really felt that these videos weren't appropriate then he shouldn't have rented them in the first place, nor defended them in the article. To suddenly change your views to appease a few constituents seems phony. If he truly has changed his beliefs, good for him, but then why lie to netflix customers about it?
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