Blockbuster may be as good as dead, but they’re laughing at Netflix’s new crackdown on password sharing from beyond the grave.
The once-revolutionary video rental chain has only one franchise location left, but their social media team is apparently still up and running based on a Thursday tweet from the company directed at their once-competitor.
After months of speculation, Netflix officially informed customers on Tuesday that accounts will only be shared within one household. This policy change effectively ends the longstanding practice of friends and family splitting the cost of one bill, often from different parts of the country.
This crackdown on password sharing is in response to growing competition and a recent loss of new subscribers, a first for the company in more than 10 years.
Since its founding in 1997, the company has grown to be a giant among men in the streaming service, completely transforming the entertainment industry with award-winning original content over the past decade. They’ve since been joined by services like Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, and the recently renamed Max.
This boom in streaming came at the expense of Blockbuster, which had more than 9,000 locations and 80,000 employees at its peak. They suffered heavy losses in the late 2000s, eventually going out of business in 2010, and were purchased by Dish Network the following year.
As of 2019, Bend, Oregon is still home to the last franchised store in existence.
The memo Netflix sent to members said they can transfer a profile of someone outside their household so they can start their own membership with a separate payment plan or pay an additional $7.99 for each person outside their household using their account .
The company also said 100 million households share an account, accounting for 43% of its global user base.