Netflix to raise prices 60%

[Looneybomber]

New Netflix Rates Will Delay My Cord Cutting
Monthly fee goes from $10 to $16. Looks like Redbox is the big winner.


With Netflix rate increases, looks like I won’t be cutting the cord any time soon. Redbox, here I come.
By Julie Jacobson, July 13, 2011

With Hulu Plus and Netflix, I was so close to cutting the cable cord. But now Netflix has gone and raised prices by 60% -- from $9.99 per month to $15.98 per month – for unlimited streaming and one disk per month.

You can have one or the other – streaming or hard disk – for $7.99 per month.

Here’s how the email exchange went with my husband:

Him: [forwarding notice from Netflix] Netflix raising prices

Me: [expletive] What would you like to do? Just streaming? No hard disks? We always use Redbox anyway. Or just drop them altogether?

Him: Let's just keep getting disks. We never really stream anyway.

Speak for yourself, mister. I happen to enjoy streaming Netflix to my iPad on a lazy Sunday morning or sleepless weekday night. So I guess that’s how Netflix plans to get away with the new pricing plan – pitting spouse against spouse.

And, by the way, that extra $6 per month coincides with the disappearance of Sony titles from the Netflix library.

Read the rest here...
http://www.cepro.com/article/new_netfli ... d_cutting/

[audtatious]

Netflix agreements with others on licensing are expiring. Going to cost them more so that means the consumer will get the eventual bill.

[Micron]

Netflix agreements with others on licensing are expiring. Going to cost them more so that means the consumer will get the eventual bill.

It's more than just the agreements expiring... the studios see a cash cow, so they'll bleed it dry until it fails, then blame piracy.

Another thing to consider is that streaming is MUCH cheaper than mailing the discs... So it could also be seen as an attempt to push people to stream more, while scaling back their DVD operations. However, this should come with a simultaneous increase in their streaming library's titles. So back to Reason A, with the studios aiming to bleed them out.

[audtatious]

Yeah, studio's and such need their take now. End result is that Netflix is not the ones doing this from a profit perspective. Tho, I'm sure there is something for them within the increase.

[Micron]

Yeah, studio's and such need their take now. End result is that Netflix is not the ones doing this from a profit perspective. Tho, I'm sure there is something for them within the increase.

You need to start reading TechDirt!

[h66kEM]

Erg, I left Netflix when they decided to get greedy. I joined Huluplus and now Netflix is begging for me to come back. I am more than happy with Redbox and not waiting a month for new releases like Netflix. I hope Netflix goes out of business, they had a good thing until they lost their minds thinking people wouldnt simply go with their competition. Moreover, Hulu plus has free month for students. Netflix is old news.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I find it SLIGHTLY Ironic that you call Netflix greedy, and then mention Hulu Plus in the next sentence. Hulu Plus charges exactly the same price for streaming, but you STILL HAVE TO WATCH ADS! Oh, and their selection is genuinely terrible. I was excited for Hulu Plus when it was first announced, but as soon as I leared there were still ads it became a definite non-option. If I'm watching for free, I'll happily tolerate ads. But when I'm paying for a subscription, I don't want to see any. EVER.

I've never seen the appeal of DVD-by-mail and only use Netflix for streaming myself, so I've been entirely unaffected by the whole Flixter/pricejack thing.

[Kompresshun]

I have both Hulu Plus and Netflix streaming, but I don't use a DVD by mail service at all. The only reason I have Hulu Plus though is because we watch a lot of shows on NBC and Ect, so if we miss one somehow, we can go back and watch it. It still utterly pisses me off that I have to pay to watch the same ads as I do if I watch for free online. Then to piss me off even more, I find a lot of content that says "Web only". WTF!? I pay for your service to watch it away from my PC, but you still want me to go sit in front of my PC, which I hate doing. Ugh.

I'm cool with Netflix now though. I definitely get my money's worth out of their streaming service.

[h66kEM]

Sure commercials suck. As I'm not wasting money on cable, I'll take the trade off for 30 second ads. I normally dont even notice the ads as I have it on in the background. It nice that I can watch all my favorite shows now instead of always missing them because of work. Netflix doesnt release movies until a month later so Redbox has them beat by far.

Agreed about Web only access to some of my shows. Now that's total bs.

[Looneybomber]

I still don't pay for any streaming video because I don't want to pay for reduced quality in video and audio. I would rather trade convenience for quality. I want the high quality video and lossless audio (DTS-HD Master Audio or Dolby TruHD) that comes with BRDs.

Side note: I did not know Hulu still had commercials in their paid account. I knew you could get them on your tablets, but there's still commercials? Dumb. Sure, you may say you pay for cable and there's still commercials, but I don't pay for cable either.