Netflix is Planning Another Price Increase; Only For New Customers For Now

[dgstorm]

Netflix is famous/infamous for their unpopular price increases. A couple of years ago they had a marketing fiasco when they started charging a separate fee for disks vs. online streaming. Since then their reputation has recovered somewhat, and customers have been flocking back to the convenient service. It appears they are getting brave again, as the company's CEO Reed Hastings recently sent a letter to shareholders indicating they are planning a new price increase.

To be clear, this move will not be nearly as wallet-wrenching as the previous faux-pas. Hastings suggested it will be a $1-2 dollar price increase. He also made it clear that it will only be for new customers signing up for the service. He plans to keep a temporary price freeze for folks who are currently signed up. He didn't indicate how long the price will stick for existing customers, but said it would be for a "generous period of time."

The primary purpose for the price increase is to help "acquire more content and deliver an even better streaming experience.” It seems like if you were mulling over getting/re-getting the service, now might be a good time in order to lock in a solid cheaper price for a while.

Source: re/code

 

[blacksoxing]

....Thanks to that infamous RS promo they had in late Feb, I'm good on Netflix for 1.5 years

Only paid $20 for the pleasure (2 $5 phones & 1 $10 phone)

Go ahead and raise rates Netflix...I'm immune!!!

 

[Jeffrey]

I think the primary reason is to make more money.

 

[cybertec69]

They have to recoup the $ they shelled out to Comcast and those greedy cable companies, and at the end of the day we the consumer have to pay the piper, not only by raised cable prices but also content providers who need to do business with these blood thirsty sharks.

 

[leeshor]

I dropped Netflix when they separated the 2 services. There are so many more options with movies that are just as current I haven't found a reason to go back but they sure are sending a lot of mail pleading with me. Not happening. The only thing they really have going for them imo is their Netflix specific shows. HBO is the same way.

 

[DesktopDevin]

I did the trial thing with netflix when I bought my Smart TV ... needless to say when I went looking for Movies I wanted to watch they would not show them in the search results.

For example I searched batman and dark knight with 0 results except for some cartoons and old tv shows.

Sorry guys but if you don't have Batman ... I aint paying.

This also happened with a lot of other titles I searched on, if they had them they were not showing them to me.

Not a way to win a potential customer over.

 

[akhenax]

I'd buy that for a dollar.View attachment 70579

 

[PereDroid]

I dropped Netflix when they separated the 2 services. There are so many more options with movies that are just as current I haven't found a reason to go back but they sure are sending a lot of mail pleading with me. Not happening. The only thing they really have going for them imo is their Netflix specific shows. HBO is the same way.

I could have written that.
I love how we always hear, all of our lives, even in school that competition is good. Competition lowers prices.
So Netflix gets a competitor... Amazon. Amazon charges $79/year compared to Netflix $96. Viva competition. 2 years later... Amazon is $99. Hmmm. And now Netflix want to raise prices again.
We are so blessed to have competition.

 

[SquireSCA]

I think that if they increase prices, they should use it to offset what Microsoft charges to stream Netflix to an XBox. My PS3 died, which I used to stream Netflix. Someone gave me an XBox 360 for xmas. I don't really play games, I just used the console for streaming and BluRay.

I was amazed to see that I pay for Netflix, but if you want to watch it on an XBox, you have to pay an extra $10 per month? So I pay for my internet connection, I pay for Netflix, but if I want to watch it on my Xbox on my internet connection, I have to pay again?

Ridiculous...

 

[jspradling7]

I used to have a 3 disk plus streaming account with Netflix. When they pulled their separation/price increase thing I cut the disks and kept streaming only for 8 bucks a month. It works for us because we like to watch series like Supernatural, Lost, Heroes, Burn Notice, Madmen, and things like that. And my wife watches the old movies and foreign films.

 

[johnomaz]

We just cancelled Netflix last month. We had the free months from our Chromecasts and then kept paying for a few months but we caught up with all the shows we wanted to watch. The only thing that was watched on it was cartoons for my kids and that was a small amount. They don't need to watch that much TV to keep paying 8 bucks a month for a service we barely use. Sad its going up in price.

I do however use Amazon Prime Instant Videos. We use prime a lot and definitely save at least 80 bucks a year in shipping so it balances out. Even with the price increase that will hit me next year when it renews, I think its still worth it They have a lot of stuff on there for free too. I'm rewatching Star Trek Voyager now and will do DS9 after. Battlestar Galactica will be next I'm sure.