Most Netflix Customers Don't Realize Prices Will Increase Next Month (time.com) 213
An anonymous reader writes: Millions of Netflix customers are about to start paying more to stream their favorite movies and TV shows -- and chances are, they don't even realize it. In May 2014, Netflix raised the price of its standard streaming plan for new subscribers, to $9.99 a month. However, the price hike did not apply to existing customers, who were grandfathered into their current rates of $7.99 a month for a two-stream, HD plan, Business Insider reported. Unfortunately, the good times are about to end for this customer base, which analysts estimate at about 17 million people, or 37% of Netflix's U.S. subscribers. In May, all grandfathered customers will be required to fork over $9.99 to continue to watch Netflix. Even worse, about 80% of those who will be affected by the price increase did not realize it was coming, according to research from JP Morgan.
Danger Will Robinson! (Score:5, Funny)
Holy shit, after two years they plan on charging customers $2 more per month!
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They should take that $2 price increase and apply a $2 discount to their shrinking DVD subscription library. There's less content, so I should pay less.
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Their streaming library sucks these days too...at least for me.
Somewhere between 25 and 50% of the time I go looking for a movie I can't find it. It's handy to stream TV shows...if they're on there. Otherwise I find "alternate" means of watching the content I want.
2 bucks...even 10 bucks is chump change. I'd be happier if they charged 25 and actually had all the movies I want.
What I won't do is sign up for 5 different streaming platforms, each with a separate app and login, separate payment, intermixed c
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You do know netflix has streaming services too, right? I would even go so far to say I haven't used the "disc" rental feature in 5 years....
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Not everything in Netflix is in their online catalog.
I admit I don't get discs as often as I used to, but occasionally that's still the only way to watch one of their movies.
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If you think you should pay less because you're still using an obsolete system that's fading away, stop paying them. You're not entitled to a rate-cut, and shouldn't be wasting resources shipping plastic discs when even old people are able to stream their media now.
If you're not happy with NetFlix, and are fixated on plastic discs, there are competing services for technology-limited people. This is all on you.
Until the wannabe streams are anywhere near the quality of disks (BDs, not DVDs) then I'll consider switching. Until then, you can watch your pixelated Dolby Stereo 3 Mbps streams. To get anywhere near BD quality with Dolby Atmos / DTS:X quality, you're going to need a stream somewhere above a combined 15Mbps at a minimum. No one is streaming anywhere near that, not even those supposed 4K streams. To get a semblance of what's happening, take a 20MB photo of a city scene with a tree and flowers and cars and
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well - I for one completely forgot about the grandfather thingy. Been using Netflix for a short while - ~6 years, so I'm part of the grandfathered price.
Now that I'm reminded - I recall them saying the price was only guaranteed for the next 2 years.
Hopefully the "family" plan will be better. My wife has her own basic subscription too (she used to be a DVD only person until we got married and I bought her an iPad). I think we could save a buck by combining. eh. She likes the independence and a buck is w
Re:Danger Will Robinson! (Score:5, Informative)
Hopefully the "family" plan will be better. My wife has her own basic subscription too (she used to be a DVD only person until we got married and I bought her an iPad). I think we could save a buck by combining. eh. She likes the independence and a buck is worth that.
I don't know what "independence" she might be enjoying that is not available in a single subscription - the online stuff can be segregated into different "profiles" (or whatever they might be called) so your "My Little Poney" viewing habits do not pollute her "Serious Cinema" choices. As I recall from our days of DVD Netflix - there are similar features for ordering disks. You could alway cancel your subscription and ask to join her's - give her all the control.
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It's better than that.
Netflix started its service in 1997 as a DVD-only service. They originally added streaming for $1 per hour, including a top-tier $16.99/month plan still available in 2007 for 17 hours per month. In 2008, Netflix went to a $7.99 streaming model; and in 2011, they raised their streaming service to $8.99/month and then $9.99/month.
Let's ignore that Netflix $9.99/month unlimited streaming is more service for 53% of the dollar price of their 2007 service.
In 2008, Netflix allowed unlim
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They originally added streaming for $1 per hour
They originally added streaming for free (or at least no extra cost) for disc subscribers. You were just limited in how many hours you could use it. It wasn't available to non-DVD subscribers initially. And then they removed the hours restriction to make it unlimited for no extra cost. They weren't available as separate subscriptions until after all that.
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Re:Danger Will Robinson! (Score:5, Interesting)
Thing is since 2008 Netflix streaming titles have shrunk by 53%
And the once epic Anime section all gone but a few.
Because once they got popular and net neutrality debated "fast lanes" and filtering Netflix, to try and kill it 15 studios pulled all their content off Netflix
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True. That raises questions about rent-seeking; Netflix asserts the studios have been rent-seeking by charging more per title, while ISPs have provided favorable access by placing Netflix source nodes inside their networks (reducing peer-to-peer infrastructure cost).
Even the major broadcasters (e.g. SBGI) are now getting into producing their own shows; while Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and YouTube have been heavily advertising in-house productions to avoid licensing fees and attract an audience to exclusive
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CBS gives you 5 episodes of a show for free; but if you subscribe you get 7! Wow, two extra episodes. Clearly CBS has their finger on the pulse of penny pinching Americans.
All these other wannabe streaming services haven't quite figure it out. We want one subscription with a large variety, not 10 different lackluster subscriptions that cost more combined than the original satellite or cable plans.
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A lot of those shows come on regular tv often but they have removed a L
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here still isn't an way to search a list of movies that are new, old, popular or just look at all of the movies in an alphabetized list.
Back in the DVD days they had options like that, they removed them when they started to settle all the law suits they were fighting with the movie studios. Those options never appeared for streaming probably for the same reasons they removed them for DVDs...
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Animation, Trending Now, Reality TV, Dramas, Because you watched, family features, crime, horror..etc etc.. and those are layed out horizontally for you to scroll through. But all those movies are just a subset of all the movies that they actually provide. For instance i see the category, Crime Thrillers. If you scroll you might see 50 different things to choo
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They could have raised it by less at a time, over 2 years. But instead you get the lower price for those whole 2 years.
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In business for profit, increasing prices by 25% with a move that might only cause 5% of subscribers to even _think_ about cancelling... yeah, this was inevitable. That, and blowing all the money on creating their own content. Who was it that said "to make a small fortune in Movies, start with a large one."
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It would have been several smaller jumps, but their generous "grandfathering" rules spared people.
Admittedly, the percentage is big, but the dollar amount is small, and even after the hike the whole Netflix bill is still less than adding a channel to most cable services.
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And this explains the fundamental flaw of perspective and why reports suck!
$2/month extra charge added for entertainment...people shrug and don't notice.
25% rate increase with lots of bold and exclamation points...makes headlines.
I'll probably be cutting off my netflix TBH. I don't watch it often and their catalog has lost a lot of things I want in the last year or two. or three. I'm lazy with these cancellation things.
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Current price is 8 dollars rounded.
New price is 10 dollars rounded.
Your 20% is if you look back; for the people currently paying 8 dollars they now have to pay 2 dollars more, and 2 dollars is 25% of 8 dollars.
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Or, less than a Latte at your coffee shop.
This reminds me of when I sold computers and stuff in the early 90s, and people would drive 90 Miles (literally) to save $5 on a printer ($500 one). Which was more than the profit on those. But they would invariably forget the Cable (Parallel ) and come in to the store go get one. We sold those for $14.95 each, and got them in bulk for around $.75 each.
People know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
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Ha! I remember back then when it was a thing to save money by buying your computer stuff from Chen's Shady Gray Market Computer Shoppe, or from a computer swap, and paying cash. So I'd literally ride the bus with $1,500 cash in my pocket, all basically so I could avoid paying sales tax. And half the time the stuff you'd get would be junk -- like a motherboard that advertised it could hold X amount of RAM, only you'd find out after the fact that your OS couldn't access that much RAM. Or a video card that sup
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I find it hard to complain about this. Netflix is still charging less for an entire month of streaming service than what Comcast charges for a single DVR cable box rental.
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80% seems low (Score:2)
80% sounds low. I didn't know about it until I read about it on SlashDot, and that hardly ever happens!
However, it's still less than the $40-50/month I used to pay for cable and I watch more stuff...so I'd expect a couple more annual increases as time goes on.
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I didn't know about it until I read about it on SlashDot, and that hardly ever happens!
Yup. Netflix hasn't said anything about it. What they HAVE been doing is telling people their current rate "is guaranteed through" whatever date.
I think I may compare my Netflix list with what's available on Hulu. There seems to be a lot of overlap, and Hulu has a much bigger catalog of TV shows. No point in paying for two services if I can cover it with one.
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You and all six of your friends who watch Hulu can do that...
No, seriously, they will lose some subscribers by doing this, but nowhere near 20%
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And Hulu will charge you to watch shows with ads no thank you.
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Same here...and your cable sub was cheap!
My internet costs more than that ... mainly because I'm too lazy to call and "cancel" to get them to reduce the rate.
Netflix (Score:5, Insightful)
2 years ago, Netflix sent out an email explaining all of that, and avoided a backlash. I thought is was reasonable that they would wait two years to increase the cost to current customers, and in doing so gave me a lot of time to decide what, if anything I would do.
This isn't a story. If anything it was one of the first times that Netflix changed things the right way for once.
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I either didn't know, or had sufficiently forgotten it to make it seem like I didn't know! :)
Truth is, TV streaming services <= 9.99/month are probably fine with me, unless they are utter crap. After that, I start paying attention and asking myself if I really want it. I hope they don't increase the price for a long time after this hike.
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Yup. I remember the original notice. I hadn't realized it's been two years though.
It's not the price hike that bothers me so much though, after all inflation is a thing. But the shrinking content library is what may drive me away eventually. Every time I hop on Netflix to watch an episode of a show that used to be there but they dropped, notice that something has disappeared from my "watch later" list without my having actually watched it, or I see one of those "Netflix is dropping these show/movies. B
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Funny use of "most" (Score:4, Insightful)
"the good times are about to end for this customer base, which analysts estimate at about 17 million people, or 37% of Netflix's U.S."
Last official member numbers from Netflix were 74M customers (end of 2015). That means that 22% of the customer base is impacted (or 37% of Netflix's US customer base. Whether you choose to look at the 22% (since article title talks about "most Netflix customers," not "most US Netflix customers"), or the 37% number, neither represents "most."
It'd be far more correct to say that most Netflix customers for whom prices are finally going up don't realize it's going to happen.
Kinda wonder how many of them will care ...
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Oh noes, that means I'll have to pay $120/yr for Netflix, which may be slightly more than a month of cable or satellite service (and minus the commercials). I guess I'll take the other $1000 and buy the stuff that's not available on Netflix
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Even worse, about 80% of those who will be affected by the price increase did not realize it was coming, according to research from JP Morgan.
It really should be 18% of Netflix customers or 30% of US Netflix customers, don't realize their prices will increase. So, yea, "most"...
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EVEN WORSE (Score:3)
Even worse ... Netflix grandfathered in all these old customers at a time when it didn't have a large and growing library of exclusive content that is winning critical acclaim left and right.
Netflix ... the 80s schoolyard crack dealer of internet streaming. FOR SHAME!
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Netflix's original content (including and especially current "House of Cards") is for shit.
I signed up for the "video store on demand" quality, especially the all-you-can-eat, kind-of-watch-it-in-the-background while my kids eat cereal, I work on taxes, etc.
They're opening the door to competitors who just do the "old Netflix" if they keep it up with their current "let's make original content" kick.
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They're opening the door to competitors who just do the "old Netflix" if they keep it up with their current "let's make original content" kick.
They're doing their own original content because licensing costs are going WAY up from when they first started. A competitor can't do what Netflix did at the prices Netflix charged anymore, because the content owners are asking for more money now.
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Or refusing to license at all. There are several entire catalogs that cannot be purchased for streaming.
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Re:EVEN WORSE (Score:4, Interesting)
Netflix grandfathered in all these old customers at a time when it didn't have a large and growing library of exclusive content that is winning critical acclaim left and right.
You omitted the part where they've also been losing third party content left and right... and THAT's actually the content I care about.
They keep recommending their self-produced stuff to me, and somehow it's always "best guess" rated 5 stars. Then I watch it, and it's more like 2-3 stars - it's not all that good. But I'm sure they can hunt around and find "critics" who will like almost anything.
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That rating isn't a best guess, it's the average rating of viewers that watch similar content to you. Personally I've loved some of the series and disliked others. I think Longmire is fantastic (well up until the end of last season where it went off the rails).
The problem Netflix has is there are some studios that won't sell their content for streaming and there are others that refuse to sell it to netflix because they have their own cable enterprise. This was the huge danger of allowing content delivery to
And we'll all happily pay it... (Score:5, Interesting)
to continue to have access to their mediocre collection of content.
Hulu Plus with adblocking is far and away a better return on investment... that said, I cut the cable, so I'll happily throw $10 at them so I can keep myself busy browsing their catalog for something to watch. That activity alone eats up hours of my time every month.
On an unrelated note... Does anyone else feel like we should be able to pay for access to content separately from the UI? I know solutions like TiVo allow you to search multiple content providers, but you still have to use a different user interface for each provider. I'd rather have a single UI(don't mind paying for it) and just pay Hulu, Netflix, Vudu, etc for access to their content. I don't need 5 streaming apps, each with it's own quirky UI.
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On an unrelated note... Does anyone else feel like we should be able to pay for access to content separately from the UI? I know solutions like TiVo allow you to search multiple content providers, but you still have to use a different user interface for each provider. I'd rather have a single UI(don't mind paying for it) and just pay Hulu, Netflix, Vudu, etc for access to their content. I don't need 5 streaming apps, each with it's own quirky UI.
Roku has a pretty good "universal" search... I could see a day when a Roku (or someone) could have a universal UI. I can understand that each streaming service likes to have you at "their" channel, but probably they could all come to some arrangement.
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Hulu Plus with adblocking is far and away a better return on investment
Or, you could just pony up the extra $4/month for the ad-free version of Hulu.
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D'oh sorry, that's what I meant. Definitely worth the $14.99 or whatever it is they're charging me. Vastly better content library than Netflix.
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busy browsing their catalog for something to watch. That activity alone eats up hours of my time every month.
On an unrelated note... Does anyone else feel like we should be able to pay for access to content separately from the UI?
Yeah, some company should collect a vast variety of programming from many different providers and let you access it from one place. They could sort the content into "channels" so you'd have a general idea of where to find what you're looking for. That would cut down on your browsing time. Also to simplify things further they could consolidate the billing so you don't have to pay 5 services, just one monthly bill and you'd get access to everything. There are probably economies of scale with that so you might
Still worth it (Score:5, Insightful)
Still way cheaper than cable TV which not only costs more out of pocket, it has tons of brain-rotting commercials.
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Still way cheaper than cable TV which not only costs more out of pocket, it has tons of brain-rotting commercials.
Hey its commercials or moonshine.
Question is how fast the next increase follows. (Score:5, Insightful)
One of the things with any cloud-based service (video streaming, AWS, etc.) is that prices are artificially low right now. AWS, Azure, Google Cloud etc. are practically giving away capacity to get companies hooked on their services. At the same time, all the VC-funded startups are subsidizing this cloud build-out so they can continue operating. Netflix and Hulu are pouring money into original content to get more eyeballs a la 1999.
The thing to consider is how fast the price on all these things will go up when Social Mobile Streaming Bubble 2.0 pops. I think this entire market is being propped up by the bubble and will have to come back to Earth sometime. Video streamers are going to have to increase their prices or not offer as much expensive content for the same price, and cloud providers are going to have to cut back on the freebies and crank up their rates.
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They're making insane profits and they're giving it away? Sounds to me like prices are market-corrected for competition.
Note: I am not a theory-of-value economist, and don't try to predict the correct price of goods and services; I simply point out that the price is above the cost, including cost of risk, and so it seems nobody is undercutting their costs as a loss-lead strategy. This looks like the normal market behavior of various economic factors pushing price toward costs, allowing technological gro
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AWS, Azure, Google Cloud etc. are practically giving away capacity to get companies hooked on their services.
I don't know about the others, but AWS is very profitable to Amazon [arstechnica.com] (just in case you missed the news):
Amazon on the whole is famous for operating with razor-thin margins, but AWS is making a good profit. AWS had $7.9 billion in net sales in calendar year 2015 with an operating income of $1.9 billion, according to the company's latest earnings statement. Revenue and profit accelerated toward the end of the year, with $2.4 billion in sales in Q4 and $687 million in operating income. AWS would just need to boost sales to $2.5 billion a quarter to hit $10 billion in 2016.
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All the cloud companies are making MAD profits on it. Once the reach a certain size they gain leverage on pricing of hardware, software and internet delivery. Amazon like Google is buying their own dark fiber links, building hardware and deploying their own custom software. Once the data center is deployed their ongoing costs are essentially power and labor and the power costs are being purchased up front in the form of solar arrays that offset the entire power cost often onsite. You have a large cost deplo
So? (Score:4, Insightful)
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After cutting cable, we decided that - in addition to Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu - we'd buy some full-season shows on Amazon VOD/Google Play that we couldn't get elsewhere. The price of buying a season of a show varies, but it typically costs about $30. $120 a year for Netflix essentially equates to 4 seasons of programming. (4 seasons of 1 show, 1 season each of 4 shows, etc.) So Daredevil and Jessica Jones alone make up half of Netflix's value. We also like Kimmy Schmidt so that's 75% of Netflix
True story... (Score:5, Funny)
True story ... I kinda forgot that Netflix was only charging me $7.99. I thought the price was ten bucks.
My bad.
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True story ... I kinda forgot that Netflix was only charging me $7.99. I thought the price was ten bucks.
Exactly. For those people who have been longtime Netflix users, I really don't care. I was on the 3-DVD-at-a-time plan back when I think it was $19.99/month. Then it was $17.99. Then, I think it was $12.99 or something. Then they split streaming and DVDs at some point, and it went down to $9.99 or $7.99 or something.
Whatever. I've been used to paying Netflix up to $20/month for more than a decade. The streaming selection isn't terrific, but it's much more convenient than mailing the DVDs, and $10/m
Is this accurate? (Score:2)
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I just took a look at my Netflix subscription.
It reads: Your price is guaranteed to remain $8.99 through at least October 8, 2016 so long as you stay a member.
I have been paying $8.99 for at least the last year. So the price hike is $1/month for me and doesn't take affect until at least October...
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... It reads: Your price is guaranteed to remain $8.99 through at least October 8, 2016 so long as you stay a member. ...
I think I've been a member longer then you. Mine reads, "Your price is guaranteed to remain $7.99 through at least May 9, 2016 so long as you stay a member."
Just keep on ... (Score:2)
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What DVDs? I still have a disc subscription and now most of them are either Very Long Wait or no longer available.
Penny wise (Score:3)
I have had Netflix for almost 4 years. I don't see why $2/month is a big deal. Help me fix my $170/month cable TV + Internet + Showtime suite.
"Even Worse" (Score:4, Insightful)
It's $2 extra a MONTH. Get a grip people!!!
I'd gladly pay double the current price for Netflix.
P.S. for those that complain Netflix doesn't have too many big movies, get the Starz direct app.
Time Magazine, So Relevant! (Score:2)
It's not Netflix vs Cable (Score:2)
The problem is, Netflix doesn't replace cable. I'm not saving $90 a month having NF, I'm adding their $9.99 to my existing bill. That said, NF is still more than worth the price.
Who cares? (Score:3)
It's still pretty good value for what you're getting. I have no problem with this.
2 bucks (Score:2)
if you can't afford an extra 2 bucks a month you shouldn't be paying for netflix to begin with.
My Netflix subscription went down in price... (Score:2)
I reduced my disc rental plan to the "once every 2 weeks" plan for $4.99. Never even realized it was an option until I took a look at my subscription a few weeks ago. I've been a subscriber since 2001.
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But you get much better value for money from cable! All those free commercials!!!!!!
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Your definition of "free" is broken.
Xfinity TV Go; ESPN; C-SPAN (Score:2)
Cable:
Watching Later: INCLUDED - Xfinity TV includes a selection of videos on demand at no additional charge
Offline Device Shifting: INCLUDED - Comcast has been advertising that unlike satellite, the Xfinity TV Go app [xfinity.com] allows downloading DRM copies of on-demand shows to watch later on iPhone, iPad, Android devices with Google Play, and Fire tablets.
Live sports: INCLUDED - ESPN, TNT, TBS, NBCSN, FOX Sports, and regional channels
Live politics: INCLUDED - C-SPAN, CNN, MSNBC, FOX News Channel
Netflix:
Subscription
So, net win for Netflix (Score:4, Insightful)
No live sports, no live politics, no C-SPAN, CNN, MSNBC, FOX News. Definite advantage over cable!
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No live sports, no live politics, no C-SPAN, CNN, MSNBC, FOX News. Definite advantage over cable!
That's fine if you live alone, not so fine if you happen to live with somebody who demands those channels.
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Washington Journal continues (Score:2)
I don't think sports channels would be included in a $25/mo package.
Xfinity Digital Starter TV service and comparable "expanded basic cable" packages from other cable providers include some sports programming, such as ESPN, NBCSN, and the matches that TBS and TNT show. More expensive packages include more sports programming, but expanded basic still includes some. And with the bundle discounts, I imagine that adding Xfinity Digital Starter TV to your existing Xfinity Internet service is only $25/mo more.
Also is live politics really a thing?
Yes. C-SPAN hosts a call-in show every morning titled Washington Journa
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A 60 minute show is 45 minutes of content; a half-hour episode is consistently 22.5 minutes. That's 25% commercial-to-content ratio.
If your TV wasn't from 1990, you wouldn't need to rent a cable box. It also wouldn't be all fuzzy and flickery. A new such TV costs less than that cable box you cited.
For Netflix, your CPU/GPU/OS may not be enough. $150 Windows purchase, a $300 monitor, and an $800 PC purchase not included.
Most of us have the TV/decoder or the PC already, so we don't count those things
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If your TV wasn't from 1990, you wouldn't need to rent a cable box.
What...your TV has a CableCARD slot and your cable company hasn't moved to switched video?
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For Netflix, your CPU/GPU/OS may not be enough. $150 Windows purchase, a $300 monitor, and an $800 PC purchase not included.
If you can't figure out how to use Netflix without a $1250 computer, you probably don't belong on Slashdot.
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What cable provider do you have? All of the cable providers in my area scramble their signal, so you NEED a cable box to watch anything. That ClearQAM signal converter in your TV is useless on most modern cable systems.
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The justification for the rate increase is paying for the rights to stream content. Yet there's less content than ever to stream
The only thing surprising about that is that the rights-holders let it go for so little the first time around. It will lose its value over several years until it's almost as much as cable. DVD/Blu-Ray rental should rightfully make a comeback now for the more obscure content or the more expensive content. However, Netflix sold off a huge amount of their back catalog.
Also, Doctor Who went to Amazon. Netflix just lost the bidding war.
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If I could get everything in one streaming service, I'd happily cut the cord right now. But we're actually moving farther away from that happening.
That's because the rights-holders want to extract more money from you under the old models and are fighting the shift tooth and nail. The only reason we've seen any modernization at all is because of disruptive streaming companies taking a piece of their pie.
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It's all in one place, and I'm only paying for that content once.
Sure, but you're probably paying 5 times the amount or more for that. Is "all in one place" worth that? You could subscribe to Hulu, Amazon, AND Netflix ($7.99, $7.99, $9.99) and still save a good chunk compared to your TV package. If you can't remember which of 3 providers carries an exclusive show you want to watch, then I can't imagine how you remember what TV channel your shows are on. On sports you're right, mostly because it is a demand for very specific live content and the rights-holders have been a
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Say What again!
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Yep, still beats the hell out of Comcast or any other cable subscription.
It is worth it for the lack of ads on kids programs alone. While I am probably a terrible, no good, very bad parent for letting my kid watch TV at all, I really want to keep the ads away from him while he is still far from being a critical thinker. I've probably saved a ton from not having my arm twisted into buying all sorts of toys and sugary cereals he would be begging for after watching "normal" TV.
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A year ago, Time Warner Cable wanted us to go from paying $87 a month to $117 a month. This wasn't for any new services (we'd actually be getting less), but this was their "great deal that'll keep you subscribed." Despite their promises that this was a $157 value, I wasn't biting. We cut cable and went to $35 a month Internet. With the savings, we signed up for Hulu and bought some VOD episodes from Amazon/Google. (We were already Netflix/Amazon Prime subscribers so that was a wash.) We still wound up