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Netflix is Testing a New 'Ultra' Tier of Service (cnet.com) 126

Posted by msmash from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.
Netflix may be introducing a new, higher tier of service. From a report: Known as Ultra, the new tier would allow four devices to receive Ultra HD video and audio streaming simultaneously, according to Italian blog Tutto Android. Netflix currently has three subscription plans: $7.99 Basic, $10.99 Standard and $13.99 Premium. Basic allows users to watch Netflix on one screen at a time; Standard allows viewing on two screens; and Premium allows four screens. Screens can be TVs, laptops, tablets or smartphones. "We continuously test new things at Netflix and these tests typically vary in length of time," Smita Saran, a Netflix spokeswoman, said in an email. "In this case, we are testing slightly different price points and features to better understand how consumers value Netflix."
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Netflix is Testing a New 'Ultra' Tier of Service More

Netflix is Testing a New 'Ultra' Tier of Service

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  • They Forgot the $0 No Service Plan (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    The one that more people are subscribing to because they're tired of Netflix's nonsense.

    • Re:They Forgot the $0 No Service Plan (Score:5, Interesting)

      by pots ( 5047349 ) on Wednesday July 04, 2018 @10:55PM (#56894552)
      I'm a $0 tier member myself, so I guess I can't dispute your claim, but what nonsense is this? I have and still think of Netflix as the least-bad streaming option. i.e.: a single fee covers everything, no rentals, no paying extra to be add-free or to gain access to all of the episodes of a show. Netflix does track you, which is bad, but way less than Amazon or the conglomerates that Hulu represents, which is less-bad. And their own programming is consistently critically acclaimed.

      So, what's the deal? There's room for improvement of course, but what's so bad about Netflix?

      • Re:They Forgot the $0 No Service Plan (Score:5, Interesting)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Thursday July 05, 2018 @06:41AM (#56895306) Homepage Journal

        There are two main issues with Netflix, neither of that all that bad really.

        The selection of 3rd party stuff has decreased over the years, especially movies. The licences expire and they all have their own streaming services now, so those titles vanish from Netflix. It's quite frustrating but not really Netflix's fault. The solution is to ignore other streaming services until they go out of business and give Netflix a new licence.

        The second problem is DRM. Netflix uses DRM in a futile attempt to protect its video streams, which always appear on The Pirate Bay within an hour or two of being posted to Netflix. The DRM results in poor video quality on many devices because Netflix limits them to 480p. It also limits your ability to download and watch stuff why flying etc.

        Overall I'm reasonably happy with Netflix and subscribe from time to time, when there is stuff I want to watch.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by whopis ( 465819 )

          Why does that limit your ability to download and watch stuff while flying?

          I do that pretty much every time I fly and never seem to have an issue with it.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        what's so bad about Netflix?

        They have a not-so-subtle political agenda. On Amazon you find shows and features with all kinds of viewpoints, but Netflix has a definite slant towards the regressive left agenda.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by hcs_$reboot ( 1536101 )
      I wish that pricey service include the films and shows I want to watch,

      • Re:They Forgot the $0 No Service Plan (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Freischutz ( 4776131 ) on Thursday July 05, 2018 @01:51AM (#56894868)

        I wish that pricey service include the films and shows I want to watch,

        That is a wonderfully non-specific demand. Do you mean all the old classics from the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s? Those are owned by various entities that sell access to them to the highest bidder in an insanely complicated web of licensing deals that result in you not even getting a consistent catalogue of content on Netflix as you move from country to country. Or maybe you mean that you want all the latest Hollywood blockbusters to be available on Netflix? Same problem basically. Making it sound like Netflix does not want you to have access to this stuff is kind of unfair. There is never going to be a situation where you can sign up for a single streaming service and get access to all movies ever made, entertainment industry politics make that impossible.

        • Re:They Forgot the $0 No Service Plan (Score:5, Interesting)

          by mccalli ( 323026 ) on Thursday July 05, 2018 @01:56AM (#56894880) Homepage
          All you said is true, but they're problems for the *business* owner, not the consumer. At the end of it, I want my £7.99 to give me access to the things I want to see. At the beginning of subscription, it pretty much did. These days, unless I'm interested in Netflix originals, it pretty much doesn't. Now as it happens I *am* interested in a couple of Netflix originals - Stranger Things, A Series Of Unfortunate Events. So I keep subscribing right now. It's getting more tenuous to justify though.

          • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

            by GrandCow ( 229565 )
            Your post stinks of old person "back in my day" speeches.

            "Back in my day we only had 4 channels, and everything was on those 4 channels, and all we needed was an antenna! We didn't need to pay for cable!"

            Suck it the fuck up, different companies charge for their stuff, and your $8/month isn't going to get you everything. Go back to a $100/month cable bill. Or just subscribe to the stuff you want. Do a little work and find which places have what you want. Even paying for multiple services is going to be chea

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

              You are lucky in the US, you actually have the option to stream most stuff. Outside the US a lot of titles are simply unavailable.

              Also, you forgot option 3. Subscribe to a VPN and pirate stuff you can't stream. VPN is about $5/month, and the selection is excellent although some older obscure titles do sometimes go unseeded.

              • You are lucky in the US, you actually have the option to stream most stuff. Outside the US a lot of titles are simply unavailable.

                Grass. Otherside. Greener.

                A lot of titles aren't available in the US until a year after Europe and the rest of the world get it. If the title is put out by an American network we have to wait a year whilst Europe gets it immediately... or like in the case of the new Star Trek- the rest of the world gets it but the US has to go without indefinitely.

            • "Go back to a $100/month cable bill."

              Pro Tip:

              Even with top tier cable / satellite, you still don't get to see everything. What you do get is about 10% of what you want to watch, bundled with 90% filler and bullshit. ( Like the Scientology channel, two dozen Jesus channels, the seemingly infinite number of shopping or infomercial channels and a multitude of channels in a language you don't even speak )

            • How about we fix IP law so that things enter the public domain in a reasonable amount of time. There should also be an abandonment clause that requires abandoned work (work not available or in print) be given an even shorter amount of time before moving to the public domain.

              Right now there is almost 100 years of video records in existence of which only a small part, heavily weighed toward the last 30 years, is available at any price. Much of it will never see the light of day if the media companies have the

      • It sounds like you want their DVD service. It isn't all-inclusive, even for US-made stuff, but I bet it covers 99% of what you're looking for. It covers 95% of what this movie buff wants. Streaming on the other hand has about 10% of what I want to watch.

        Here I am, just hoping they'll offer a 4-DVD package, because 3-at-a-time often isn't enough for us. Where's the DVD 'Ultra' package?

    • the $0 plan is getting more enticing. Honestly, if it weren't for the Mrs. I would cancel Netflix and just stick with Prime/Hulu.

      Netflix is losing content left and right and charging more every year or so.

    • No shit.

      I signed up for Netflix in 2009, to watch Hollywood movies, not their "original content" BS.

      It got harder and harder to find anything worth watching over the years. It got to the point where I spent more time looking for content to watch than actually watching it. I had thought about dropping them for years. I finally dropped them in 2016 when they raised the price by another dollar.

      At this point, I don't think I'd go back to watching Netflix even for free. It just takes too long to find something

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I use youtube and get to watch Sony's latest releases free.

  • What about content tiers? (Score:3)

    by Sebby ( 238625 ) on Wednesday July 04, 2018 @09:58PM (#56894414)
    Say I don't want any of my cash to end up in Fox's coffers in license fees, I could go for a Netflix Originals only tier - what about that?

    • F**k that noise, regional separation is bad enough, we don't want Netflix to turn into another "channel" provider.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Sebby ( 238625 )

        we don't want Netflix to turn into another "channel" provider.

        That's the way I see things going - since everybody and their grandma is now prepping their own content service (Disney's next).

      • F**k that noise, regional separation is bad enough, we don't want Netflix to turn into another "channel" provider.

        Too late. It has been heading that way for a long time. There is less and less content from outside providers on Netflix every year and more and more "Netflix made stuff".

    • nooo!

    • Instead of subscriptions? :/

    • You have something against Disney?
  • We shouldn't be surprised that they are testing the possibility of simply making more money, although we may have been fooled these past few years into thinking that Netflix's low prices were based on some kind of nice-guy philosophy rather than being an aggressive market-share-grabbing tactic. Now that they've got the market share they are in a position to make a bit more of a squeeze out of their customers. This is just what marketing departments do. If people show that they are willing to pay then the ne

    • This is just what businesses do.

      FTFY.

  • Australia's No-Broadband-Service can't cope with existing loads. What's this going to do to peak-time speeds?

  • Time to rethink that paper insulated NN rules for all POTS wireline.
    Time for some new innovative community broadband so gated communities and gentrified zip codes can enjoy more 4K.

  • ... their MKUltra [wikipedia.org] tier. Literally. I want to wait, but, for some reason, I can't.

    I wonder if they'll make me watch -- I... mean... -- if I'll get to watch ST Discovery?

  • I'm confused (Score:3)

    by rh2600 ( 530311 ) on Wednesday July 04, 2018 @11:59PM (#56894700) Homepage
    I'm on Premium, and already and always have 'Ultra'/4k as part of it for four screens

    • Re:I'm confused (Score:5, Informative)

      by JaredOfEuropa ( 526365 ) on Thursday July 05, 2018 @12:18AM (#56894728) Journal
      Ultra is not a new tier, it’s the new Premium. You’ll have to pay more for what you have now, or get downgraded.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by AvitarX ( 172628 )

        I don't think that's true. I think the new tier also has HDR.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Anonymous Coward

          The premium Tier currently has 4K, HDR, DolbyVision and Dolby Atmos/ Dolby 5.1.
          4K/HDR/DV will be available only in the $17 Ultra, if they decide to move forward and not grandfather the current Premium subscribers. So, it's price hike from $14 to $17.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by AvitarX ( 172628 )

            Thanks, I must have misread the article I mentioned.

            It made it sound like currently they only offer 4k, and it's billed as premium, but they were adding HDR and adding it as Ultra.

            Seems risky to not only match, but surpass HBO in price (though I assume HBO is 1080p only).

  • I'm very tired of Netflix, to which I subscribe.

    The rating system changes, the annoying previews and trailers that automatically play at every spot on there user interface, and the decreased screen real estate for viewing possible selections have really bothered me. The ham-fisted: 'You will like what we provide and have no choice', 'Your input is not important', and 'We can do what we want' attitude is, unfortunately, becoming the norm for them (did they hire a bunch of people from the cable company?)

    They

  • Throttle (Score:3)

    by Calydor ( 739835 ) on Thursday July 05, 2018 @01:33AM (#56894836)

    And then Comcast throttles the speed to 480p anyway.

    • What area do you live in? Here in the Chicago suburbs I have both Comcast and Netflix and have no issues with multiple 4k streams from them at the same time.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Calydor ( 739835 )

        Europe, just going by previous Slashdot articles about (I believe it was) Comcast throttling mobile data detected as video streams to around 480p.

  • Netflix has lost its luster (Score:3)

    by mea_culpa ( 145339 ) on Thursday July 05, 2018 @01:57AM (#56894882)

    Netflix used to be great with lots of good TV shows and movies. They did well with some OC but lately everything feels B rated and meh.

    It's bad enough that I've pulled the plug last month and canceled it.
    Maybe next year I'll do a month free trial and see if things have improved.

  • This snippet isn't telling the full story.

    While basic is limited to 1 screen, it's also limited to only SD streaming.
    Standard has HD
    And now this new premium has 4k HD

    But prior to this plan change, standard members could stream 4k video. Now they require you to pay about 20% more to get what you previously had.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ruddk ( 5153113 )

      If we can call it "fair", I'd think it is a good idea to have premium and ultra. I would have no use for 4 screens, so making 4 screens a separate tier is good(for me). I don't have 4k so a "standard" with HD and one screen is a good fit for me. But I am still not going to subscribe again. I don't care about any of their shows at the moment.

  • It was fun while it lasted (Score:4, Informative)

    by ruddk ( 5153113 ) on Thursday July 05, 2018 @07:35AM (#56895476)

    but we are back to the same old cable tv crap. Subscribe to 5 services to get what we want. The main difference is that it is over IP, on demand and the company names have changed a bit.
    Not that I expected that it would turn out otherwise.

    • but we are back to the same old cable tv crap. Subscribe to 5 services to get what we want. The main difference is that it is over IP, on demand and the company names have changed a bit.
      Not that I expected that it would turn out otherwise.

      And you're paying for internet what you used to pay to get cable TV and internet before you cut the cord.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ledow ( 319597 )

      Hint:

      Stop paying for products/services that are only available in that fashion.

      Literally say "Nope, sorry, won't touch that series even though I love it."

      Wait a year, buy the physical media, or wait for it to come over to the services you do want to see. Or not buy it at all.

      While "but I must see it now" is the driver, you can never escape those kind of lock-ins and they know it.

      Hint: Spend a year without any media at all. Bin the TV. You won't miss it at all after the initial shock. Then, from that p

  • I prefer the expanded catalog of the DVD/Blu-Ray plan.

  • What the summary doesn't say... (Score:3)

    by atrex ( 4811433 ) on Thursday July 05, 2018 @08:32AM (#56895732)
    Had to RTFA to see the nasty part of this change: Premium users may get cut down to 2 screens at a time from the current 4. Premium already offers Ultra HD content across 4 screens. So this is basically another way for Netflix to hike their streaming prices, not offer customers more choice.
  • I just looked at my plan before I typed this to make sure I wasn't reading wrong. I am on the Premium plan which is 4 screens + Ultra HD. That's right. Ultra HD on all 4 screens. So ... this is definitely fake news.

    • This article is about changes for Netflix in Italy.

      All the rest is speculation about how that might also be changed elsewhere in the world.

      Yeah, that's how low /. has sunk, it's re-posting guesses about a company's possible future American pricing from a foreign blog post.

  • Why allow a user to create 5 different accounts (or is it 4?) if you can only view it on 1 or 2 screens using their basic/standard services? If you're going to lock it down, lock it down as 1 screen per family member.

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