Brand burner

Published 12:01 am Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Brand burner

Already in the doghouse with customers over a recent price increase, Netflix now says it’ll split its DVD-by-mail and streaming video operations and force customers to manage their queues at separate websites. In announcing the change, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings apologized for the company’s handling of the price increase — but not the increase itself.

Netflix will call the DVD business “Qwikster,” but somehow “New Coke” seems more appropriate.

The written word: Memoirs by former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lead the slate of major new book releases for fall.

In other book news, the Netflix announcement has compelled authors of business-school textbooks to update their chapters on notable corporate blunders.

Better burger? Wendy’s has updated its hamburger preparation, which hadn’t changed since the fast-food chain began 42 years ago. Dave’s Hot ‘n’ Juicy, named for Wendy’s late founder, boasts extra cheese, a thicker beef patty and a buttered bun.

Internet wags quickly noted that if Netflix ran Wendy’s, it would make customers stand in one line to get a burger, and then another to order fries.

— Mark Carlson, Herald staff