Amazon has come under fire from rural customers after scrapping its popular DVD delivery service
The tech giant announced its Lovefilm By Post DVD rental service will be axed from October 31st due to a ‘decreasing demand' for the discs and a growing number of customers who were streaming instead.
But the move has irritated many rural subscribers, who said the closure was ‘upsetting and unnecessary' for people with poor internet.
Tech giants Amazon have announced its Lovefilm By Post DVD rental service will be axed from October 31st due to a ‘decreasing demand
One user said: ‘I rent titles for my elderly mother who has no internet and unable to stream content.
Removing the service is upsetting and unnecessary'
Another wrote: ‘#Amazon closing #lovefilm is a disaster for those of us with rural internet that barely streams anything and film tastes beyond Hollywood.'
Other fans of the service argued that a wider range of films is available to rent on DVD and Blu-ray.
One wrote: ‘upset LoveFilm is closing.
You have rubbish content for streaming in comparison to DVDs and our internet not good enough anyway.' While another said: ‘Irksome since my Internet connection sucks, so can't stream. And http://hd-lostfilm.org it takes too long for new releases to come out on free streaming anyway.'
For a monthly subscription fee, Lovefilm customers could receive a DVD or Blu-ray disc of their choice via post that they would send back once watched.
The rise of streaming services is being blamed for the closure of Lovefilm.
Rural subscribers to the service have spoken of their dismay that it will no longer be available
The move to close Lovefilm comes six years after Amazon took full control of the service in a deal that was seen at the time as an attempt to protect itself against the rise of streaming rival Netflix.
Lovefilm was founded in 2002 and had more than 1.4m subscribers by the time it was acquired by the US tech giant.
In an email to customers yesterday, Amazon said: ‘We have very much enjoyed delivering the Lovefilm By Post service to our customers.
‘However, over the last few years we have seen a decreasing demand for DVD and Blu-ray rental as customers increasingly move to streaming.
‘Due to this, we will be closing the Lovefilm By Post business on 31st October 2017.
We are committed to finding alternative roles for all Lovefilm employees within Amazon.'