To anyone who has a Netflix account, have you noticed something strange lately? Every single new release DVD, such as Michael Clayton, No Country For Old Men, No Reservations etc. when you place an order for them come up with the caption "Very long Wait" or "Long Wait". I found this to be very odd until I started looking at my Pay Per View choices with Dish Network. All of the above mentioned movies were available immediately! At $4 a view, I might add. Other than a conspiracy, what's going on?

I also noticed that Netflix changed it's way to look at new releases. No longer can I log on every Tuesday and view (and choose) current new movie releases. I have to scroll through a roll bar now and most of the new 'so called' releases are really 6 months to a year old. I have to physically type in each new movie's title under the search window in order to locate the film and place a rental order. When I check my queue I find the film with the caption 'very long wait' next to it. I've only been able to rent older movies lately with my membership. I think this has to do with either Netflix can't get the movies, are so busy with massive customers that there really is a long wait for the movies or Netflix cut a deal with online/television moguls to hold back recent releases so that people could see the movies through Pay Per View and thus pay quadruple for them. Take your pick. I choose the last option.

I've been subscribing to the 2-per-month membership with Netflix whereby I view only 2 new release movies per month @$4.99. I supplement my video viewing with classics from the free library. Since DH and I only watch one DVD per Saturday night, the system was working out fine for us. I felt connected to the real world by seeing a late release 2 times a month (or 3 times, if I paid an extra dollar to Netflix before the month ran out). I also changed my television provider from Direct TV @$60 per month to Dish Network Family programming @$19 a month. In exchange for less commercial channels, Dish Network not only provided a pay-per-view option (that if I am not careful with my remote control, I can very easily order a movie by mistake and have my account charged accordingly) but they also included over 11 shopping channels for my viewing pleasure.