If the split was primarily so that they could go to Hollywood and say "No, we're just a streaming company, that DVD division is over there so just negotiate with us", I've never thought that would work. They weren't going to fool anyone.

I bet they weren't surprised by the customers walking or even the number of angry customers; I bet they discovered nobody in Hollywood was fooled and suddenly inclined to change even one letter of their contracts simply because they had "divested" their DVD product.