Hot on the heels of whether there is life after Cablecom pulled BBC prime [related thread] many people have been wondering how to entertain themselves in the English language. Some have considered asking their "mates" to get things for them on p2p, others have installed satellite dishes.

I'd like to float another idea - internet-based DVD rentals. I've heard of people in the US using these postage based rental services, but so far I haven't been aware of any operating in Switzerland.

Tonight I saw an ad on tv for dvdfly.ch it looks very interesting. The idea is that you choose something online before 7pm and you have it in your letterbox the next day. When you finish you post it back in a reply paid envelope. When they get it back you choose something else. The number that you have have out at each time depends on your subscription level. At the 25 franc per month level you get to have two out at any one time, and each title costs you 3 francs, but you get 1 franc back when you return it. Payment is via invoice so no credit cards or prepaying. Postage for both the rental and the return is free.

For those of us who are lazy and don't want to go to the video store and worry about getting a film back in time or paying late fees it would seem perfect.

Obviously since there is a fixed monthly cost it does become expensive if you don't use the service, but let's compare it to the price of something like a sky subscription or a cablecom digital subscription. Heck - even a single movie ticket in Zurich costs about 20 francs!

Their website is in German and French, but there is a function to narrow searches down to english soundtrack DVDs only (which is almost all of them anyway). They have a starter offer for 3 months for the price of 2 (50 francs for 3 months) - I think I'm going to try it out.

Does anyone have any experience with this company, or know of other companies providing such services (internet based)?

I think this is an interest concept and I'm glad to see it come to Switzerland and would love to hear some other points of view!