Dear Netflix,
Yes, I understand that you are getting squeezed by the content companies.  I can live with a smaller catalogue—although the availability of long-tail content was the original reason I fell in love with Netflix.  I can also live with your rates going up.  It’s the churn that’s killing me.  

I watch several episodes of the Atheism Tapes.  It’s awesome.  I want to show one to a friend, but no.  The Atheism Tapes have vanished from the “Watch Instantly” catalogue.

A few days later, I’m minding my five-year old daughter for a few hours and need to be on a call for work at 1pm.  I promise her that, while daddy’s on the phone, she can watch Word World (an educational show she enjoys).  5 minutes before the call, she settles onto the couch while daddy struggles with the A/V gear.  But, again, no.  World World is gone.  Daddy quickly scrambles to find some mutually acceptable substitute.

I can understand why the catalog churn is there—it’s cheaper not to license everything all the time—but the churn is causing real user pain.  You might seriously think about negotiating longer term licensing contracts for episodic content.