Oct 10, Netflix Inc reversed an unpopular decision to put its DVD video rental business on a separate website and rename it Qwikster, saying both DVD and online streaming services will stay on the same website. 
 
 U.S. customers will continue to go to Netflix.com for streaming and DVD-by-mail rentals, the company said in a statement issued on Monday. 
 
 The earlier plan to put movie and television DVD rentals on a different website, which never went into effect, was one of several missteps in recent months that have helped drive shares of the one-time Wall Street darling down about 60 percent since July. 
 
 Writing on the company blog last month, CEO Reed Hastings said Netflix was putting the DVD service on a different website and naming it Qwikster as the company separated the business from its growing online streaming offerings. 
 
 The move would have forced customers of both streaming and DVD options to visit different websites and maintain different accounts for each subscription. Customers also would have received separate credit-card charges. 
 
 The announcement prompted confusion and outrage from customers who wrote on the Netflix blog and Facebook page, plus bewilderment over the move to the Qwikster name for DVDs sent through the mail in the company's signature red envelopes. 
 
 In a statement issued on Monday, Hastings said "there is a difference between moving quickly -- which Netflix has done very well for years -- and moving too fast, which is what we did in this case." 
 
 "Consumers value the simplicity Netflix has always offered and we respect that," Hastings also said. 
 
 Netflix said it will not rename the DVD service. U.S. members "will continue to use one website, one account and one password for their movie and TV watching enjoyment under the Netflix brand," the company's statement said. 
 
 The move comes as Netflix deals with a customer backlash that began in July when the company announced it was raising prices by as much as 60 percent, or $6 a month, for some customers who wanted to keep DVD and streaming subscriptions. 
 
 With cancellations rolling in, Netflix cut its third-quarter forecast by 1 million subscribers in September. The company said it expects to have 24 million subscribers at the quarter's end. 
 
 Hastings later apologized for the handling of the price increase but is sticking with that decision as the company works to build its online movie and television streaming service. 
 
 Netflix faces pressure from Hollywood studios and cable programmers to pay more for streaming content. Negotiations with Liberty Media's Starz were recently called off because the two sides could not reach an agreement on pricing terms. 
 
 The company also faces competition from Amazon.com , Hulu and others. ||||| Netflix's decision to split itself into DVD and streaming services has hurt its reputation enough to warrant an apology from CEO Reed Hastings. WSJ's Rolfe Winkler discuss how the new ventures will impact the company over the long term on Markets Hub. (Photo: Getty Images.) 
 
 Netflix Inc.'s move to separate its movie-streaming business and its DVD-by-mail service failed to soothe many customers' anger over the company's recent price increase. 
 
 Calling It Splits Several companies have announced plans to split themselves apart in recent months. View Interactive 
 
 Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings announced the split in a blog post Sunday night, saying the move was the undisclosed impetus for a recent price increase that outraged customers and sent the company's stock price plummeting. He apologized for not having given the explanation sooner. 
 
 "I messed up," Mr. Hastings wrote in opening his lengthy, apologetic blog post on Netflix's website late Sunday night. "I owe everyone an explanation." 
 
 Some customers said the apology didn't lessen their anger. "I am still a customer but no longer a fan—I feel betrayed," said one response to Mr. Hastings blog post. 
 
 Another read: "Dear Mr. Hastings: I just got your email, and, as a long-time customer, quite frankly found it to be offensive. And perhaps a devastating mis-calculation for your business." 
 
 In afternoon trading Monday, the stock was down 3% to about $150 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. 
 
 A Netflix spokesman said the DVD-by-mail service, to be renamed Qwikster, will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Netflix. In the blog post, Mr. Hastings wrote that Andrew Rendich, who was chief service and operations officer at Netflix, will become chief executive of Qwikster. He wrote that customers will receive separate credit-card statements for the two services, with the new one billed under its new name. 
 
 The move, like the controversy that preceded it, highlights the challenges facing even successful companies as they navigate the transition from old media to new media. 
 
 Two months ago, Netflix said it would change its pricing structure so that its by-mail and online offerings were essentially sold separately, each starting at $8 a month. Previously customers who got movies by mail and online paid less for the combination than the offerings cost separately. 
 
 The change effectively raised many subscribers' monthly charge by 60%, to $16 from $10. Last week, in light of negative reaction to the price increases, the company cut its subscriber forecast by one million, or 4%. In response, Netflix's share price plummeted 19%. 
 
 Mr. Hastings's explanation for the price changes and the company's failure to explain its impetus took on an introspective tone. 
 
 "Inside Netflix I say, 'Actions speak louder than words,' and we should just keep improving our service," he wrote. But he added, "I should have personally given a full justification to our members" for the price increases. 
 
 Enlarge Image Close Getty Images Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, attends a press conference to announce the Netflix service in Mexico at the St. Regis Hotel on Sept. 12, 2011, in Mexico City. 
 
 Mr. Hastings wrote that he had been afraid that Netflix might be too slow in its transition from physical media to digital and suffer the fate of the recently bankrupted Borders bookstore chain. For that reason, he said, the company rushed through the first step of separating its two businesses. But he apologized profusely for not explaining why. 
 
 "In hindsight, I slid into arrogance based upon past success," Mr. Hastings wrote. 
 
 Nonetheless, he promised benefits from the new arrangement. "Each website will be focused on just one thing (DVDs or streaming) and will be even easier to use," he wrote. Qwikster will offer a subscription tier that includes videogame titles for Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 console systems. 
 
 Subscribers of both services will need to duplicate certain actions like changing credit-card numbers or rating movies, since the two services will operate completely separately, on separate websites. 
 
 Write to Ethan Smith at ethan.smith@wsj.com
– Ah, Qwikster, we hardly knew ye. Probably because ye never launched, and never will. Netflix abruptly changed course today, announcing that it would not be slicing off its DVD-by-mail service into a separate site after all, Reuters reports. “There is a difference between moving quickly—which Netflix has done very well for years—and moving too fast, which is what we did in this case,” CEO Reed Hastings said in a statement. The about-face means that customers “will continue to use one website, one account, and one password,” the company’s statement said. The bad news: The new price structure, which jacked rates for some users by as much as 60%, is staying put. "While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes," wrote Hastings on the Netflix blog. Netflix had faced intense backlash over both moves; its stock is down 60% since July, and the company recently slashed its subscriber forecast by 1 million as cancellations roll in.