Alyce is right. Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) is in a better place than Blockbuster (NYSE:BBI) these days. However, we can't assume that a bumbling Blockbuster will translate into salvation for Netflix.

"Once Blockbuster starts to increase what it charges its subscribers, there could be a major shift over to Netflix," my friend Alyce argues.

I don't see it that way. Netflix isn't signing up as many new users -- or keeping old ones -- as it once thought. It will only get harder at higher price points. Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) launched a DVD rental service in the United Kingdom. It has a more developed online delivery platform than Netflix or Blockbuster and will dive in if there's a pricing war cease-fire.

Netflix can't win. If it hikes its rates to match Blockbuster, it rolls out the red carpet for Amazon. If it sticks to its $17.99 price point -- just as Blockbuster raises its subscription fees to the point where it's a profitable pursuit -- it will have inherited an even stronger competitor.

This comes at a time when even Alyce concedes the threat of video-on-demand and digital downloading. Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) offers thousands of hours of free on-demand content. Digital video recorders are brimming with pre-recorded content. Even the once cobweb-riddled multiplex that Netflix seemed destined to displace is buzzing again.

Alyce feels that Netflix is cheap at 22 times next year's earnings, but that multiple will grow if Netflix comes in below analyst profit targets the way it did this past quarter.

I'm in no rush to dump my shares. Even if I feel that the longtime Motley Fool Stock Advisor pick can't win in the near term, that doesn't mean I think it will lose in the long run. Further price deteriorating may shake out buyout offers from Amazon, Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO), or IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IACI). Unfortunately, all of this places the stock in limbo for the near term.

And as the competitive pricing environment has proven, Netflix isn't a very good limbo dancer.  

Think you're done? You're not!

Netflix, Yahoo!, and Amazon are Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations. Free 30-day trial subscriptions are available to check out the newsletter service.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has been a subscriber and shareholder in Netflix since 2002. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this rebuttal. He is also a member of the Rule Breakers analytical team, seeking out the next great growth stock early in its defiance. The Fool has a disclosure policy.