# Netflix price increase



## lonewoolf47 (Nov 16, 2001)

I just received an e-mail from Netflix informing me of a price increase. Effective 9/1/2011 DVD one at a time: $7.99. Unlimited Streaming: $7.99. Total monthly: $15.98. I currently pay $9.99 for the same service! Got me thinking because I have three grandchildren who are just toddlers. How far can this madness go?


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

Both Engadget HD and Dave Zatz have posted about it.

I guess it is what it is.

As for how far can the madness go well that is up to you everyone has the right to not buy stuff. How you spend your entertainment budget is up to you. If Netflix doesn't provide a better value than something else don't buy it. If enough people drop the service they will get the message.

Thanks,


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## bmgoodman (Dec 20, 2000)

I'd actually be fine with the change if it means they beef up their streaming catalog. Time after time after time I find movies I want to watch are NOT available for streaming. I've been a customer for just a few months and I'm getting tired of the lack of streaming content. And I'm just not into the whole DVD-by-mail thing.


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## elwaylite (Apr 23, 2006)

Ive just dropped all streaming and renting. I put movies that get decent to good reviews from online blogs on ookong.com, and price monitor them on Amazon. I usually buy two a week at $15 a pc, then watch them and keep, or flip on eBay.


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## dbenrosen (Sep 20, 2003)

Netflix's streaming offering is not robust enough to remove the DVD option, and charging $16/mo for the combination is a bit steep. If they offered (almost) everything they have on DVD via streaming I would drop the DVD offering. As it was announced, come Sept 1 I will probably end up dropping Netflix altogether.


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## SNJpage1 (May 25, 2006)

I dropped the streaming feature and went with the 1 dvd at a time. I figure I will use the saved money to watch comcast On Demand movies or visit the red box machine about 1 mile from my house and get $1 rentals. If they raise the price again I will drop Netflix.


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## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

I found the netflix streaming to be completely uncompelling. Back when I tried to use it near the beginning, there was never anything on it that I wanted to watch.

I recently signed my father up to netflix so he could watch Deadwood, which I could have swore was available for "watch instantly", but it turns out I was mistaken and it's not. So he's stuck with the DVDs.

Netflix's move would be reasonable were the same programming available either way, but it's not. Streaming in and of itself is not a useful service, at least not to me.



lonewolf42 said:


> How far can this madness go?


As far as people keep paying for it.


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

Netflix's streaming library is too small. I'll be dropping streaming. I have to check my local Redbox to see if they have Blu-rays. If they do, I'll be dropping Netflix altogether.


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## ciscokid (Jan 14, 2003)

Hearing lots about this but almost everyone is TALKING about quitting and NOT actually quitting.

This is EXACTLy what Netflix wants. That's why they made it effective 9/1 for current users. They KNOW many will NOT drop the service 60 days from now.

CANCEL NOW, not later!


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

ciscokid said:


> Hearing lots about this but almost everyone is TALKING about quitting and NOT actually quitting.
> This is EXACTLy what Netflix wants. That's why they made it effective 9/1 for current users. They KNOW many will NOT drop the service 60 days from now.
> CANCEL NOW, not later!


Good advice. My problem is that I am using a gift certificate. So I won't cancel completely. I'll just drop streaming. In fact, I just did. I chose my future plan and dropped streaming. Hopefully enough people will do this that Netflix will get the hint.


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

ciscokid said:


> Hearing lots about this but almost everyone is TALKING about quitting and NOT actually quitting.
> 
> This is EXACTLy what Netflix wants. That's why they made it effective 9/1 for current users. They KNOW many will NOT drop the service 60 days from now.
> 
> CANCEL NOW, not later!


Why quit now, when the price raise doesn't take effect until September?

My billing data is the 17th, so I can pay the old price for 2 more months. Nothing changes for me until September 17th at which point I'll cancel.

On an unrelated note, Netflix has removed the ability to manage individual streaming devices on your account. You can now only activate one device or deactivate all devices. They don't even show you what devices are linked to your account. I was told this was done to prevent sharing of streaming services between users (which makes no sense now that unlimited devices are allowed on an account).


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

morac said:


> Why quit now, when the price raise doesn't take effect until September?
> 
> My billing data is the 17th, so I can pay the old price for 2 more months. Nothing changes for me until September 17th at which point I'll cancel.
> 
> On an unrelated note, Netflix has removed the ability to manage individual streaming devices on your account. You can now only activate one device or deactivate all devices. They don't even show you what devices are linked to your account. I was told this was done to prevent sharing of streaming services between users (which makes no sense now that unlimited devices are allowed on an account).


It doesn't matter anymore since the device limit is now fifty. SO you only need to activate or deactivate since very few people would have 50 devices on their account.

It's much easier now. I have 15 devices with Netflix, plus my PCs. Now I can just activate them all and not mess around playing musical Netflix devices where I constantly deactivate one so I can activate another.


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## aadam101 (Jul 15, 2002)

ciscokid said:


> Hearing lots about this but almost everyone is TALKING about quitting and NOT actually quitting.
> 
> This is EXACTLy what Netflix wants. That's why they made it effective 9/1 for current users. They KNOW many will NOT drop the service 60 days from now.
> 
> CANCEL NOW, not later!


Netflix wants everyone to cancel their DVD plan. They want to be out of the DVD business.


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## I WANT MORE (Oct 13, 2009)

I will be canceling the streaming portion. I can not live w/o BluRay.


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## ciscokid (Jan 14, 2003)

morac said:


> Why quit now, when the price raise doesn't take effect until September?


Didn't you read my post???!!!


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

ciscokid said:


> Didn't you read my post???!!!


I did and I don't agree with it.


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## poppagene (Dec 29, 2001)

I'm glad that unlimited streaming will now be included in the $7.99 per month plan. I will drop the one disc out at a time part gladly.


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

poppagene said:


> I'm glad that unlimited streaming will now be included in the $7.99 per month plan. I will drop the one disc out at a time part gladly.


Unlimited streaming was already included in the $7.99 plan and the $9.99 disc plan as well.


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## lujan (May 24, 2010)

morac said:


> I did and I don't agree with it.


I don't agree either. I will continue with my current service and cancel the streaming portion the day before the September billing occurs. I don't know why this poster wants us to quit now? Netflix is going to see a lot of quitting or at least reducing of services come September.


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## DonaldBurns65144 (Jan 11, 2011)

We've been using the streaming only, but not really finding much to watch. We really don't find many new releases that we like and many older movies are DVD only or not available. I figured DVD shipping has to be going up, but no idea why streaming costs have changed. Been thinking about dropping Netflix before the price increase, guess it's time to do so. We're Amazon Prime customers and so free shipping from them and if Tivo would interface with Amazon's Prime listings we've not miss Netflix at all.


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## ciscokid (Jan 14, 2003)

lujan said:


> I don't agree either. I will continue with my current service and cancel the streaming portion the day before the September billing occurs. I don't know why this poster wants us to quit now? Netflix is going to see a lot of quitting or at least reducing of services come September.


Your choice to quit or not!

I merely pointed out what Netflix is hoping for and the truth of he matter is..................they are likely CORRECT!

What's another 6 or 7 bucks a month to watch a bunch of streaming JUNK!


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## MrJedi (Apr 13, 2011)

DonaldBurns65144 said:


> I figured DVD shipping has to be going up, but no idea why streaming costs have changed.


The DVD shipping part of Netflix has a lower margin, than the streaming. They have stated many times in the past they hope to eventually get out the shipping discs business.

Streaming costs have changed. They are constantly battling Comcast and AT&T to prevent throttling of their traffic. Netflix is theorized to be the largest generator of internet traffic. Even when you factor out the traffic portion, the licensing agreements they have are expensive. Movie studios are still wary of streaming on unlimited plans, and much prefer VOD, or digital purchase (Amazon). Not to mention you have content owners who are signing exclusive deals with other companies besides Netflix preventing them from delivering some content.


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## mask2343 (Jan 6, 2003)

If Redbox had HBO and Showtime shows on Blu-ray, I'd drop DVD's too. Can't drop streaming cause it is constantly being used by the kids. My plan only goes up a few dollars though.


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## aaroncgi (Apr 13, 2010)

We're bummed about this and will probably drop the disc portion of our subscription and go streaming only come September. While it's true there are many movies we watch that aren't available through streaming, we do watch a lot of TV shows, pretty much all of which are available streaming. To get those on disc is much more painful because you only get 2-4 episodes per disc, and with a one-disc-at-a-time plan, that just doesn't work when you want to watch seasons of 2-3 shows plus movies concurrently. So we'll likely do our TV shows on Netflix and just go Redbox for our movies. Unfortunately Redbox only has new-ish releases, so that's a bummer. But with the amount of movies we watch on disc, Redbox will actually come out the same or less than the $7.99 one-disc Netflix. We do like to watch a lot of older movies though, so Blockbuster may be more attractive. What choice do we have other than Netflix that's going to be less expensive? Netflix pretty much killed the local video stores in our area (other than Blockbuster), and now that all the competition is gone, they can charge whatever they want. Of course, the local video stores still charged more than Netflix is changing to, but they offered the benefit of instant gratification. We'll probably seriously look into Blockbuster's Total Access. Although it's still more expensive than Netflix' new pricing, it's not by much, and the option to return/pickup in-store is definitely worth a few bucks a month. It's nice not having to always wait two days for new titles - but you still have the option for mail only if you don't feel like driving.

I guess we've all just had it so good for so many years with Netflix' super low pricing compared to the local store, and it couldn't last forever. 

Regardless of which way you go, you can still get a month's worth of movies, one every day if you want, for less than the price of a single showing at a commercial cinema.


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## daveak (Mar 23, 2009)

Dropping the disc option, keeping streaming. I have a number of new Blu-rays in my house I have yet to watch- and there is always Amazon or Redbox or BB.


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## Crash_Corrigan (Feb 27, 2004)

At first, I was thinking about dropping access for discs and keeping the streaming service, but I'm starting to change my mind. There is a lot of material in the NetFlix disc catalog that I can't get from RedBox and who knows when or if a major part of it will be added to NetFlix streaming.

Right now I'm leaning towards keeping the disc access, dropping streaming and picking up another Roku box for the great room TV to stream its free content like MediaFly, Crackle and Twit. I've been using a Roku in my bedroom for almost six months and its works well. I also have a lifetime subscription to Playon to get access to its content including Hulu (but not Hulu Plus which costs extra).

I'll pay less per month, but have a little less HD content. I guess I can live with that for the time being. Still plenty to watch with OTA and streaming options, and Netflix disc option will give me access to things like Dexter, Mad Men and True Blood as well as popular and obscure movies.


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

aadam101 said:


> Netflix wants everyone to cancel their DVD plan. They want to be out of the DVD business.


I don't agree with that. They are just separating the costs. This might work better for those who only stream and don't want DVD's. If there is anyone "anti-dvd" it is probably the movie studios because they are learning (slowly) they can make tons more money by preventing anyone from "owning" anything.

I will be dropping the streaming and keeping the 1-at-a-time-dvd because I refuse to pay almost double for a feature I rarely use. The streaming is not a compelling feature and the library is far too limited.

One thing is for sure, a *lot* of customers will be downgrading or leaving.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

crxssi said:


> I don't agree with that. They are just separating the costs. This might work better for those who only stream and don't want DVD's. If there is anyone "anti-dvd" it is probably the movie studios because they are learning (slowly) they can make tons more money by preventing anyone from "owning" anything.
> 
> I will be dropping the streaming and keeping the 1-at-a-time-dvd because I refuse to pay almost double for a feature I rarely use. The streaming is not a compelling feature and the library is far too limited.
> 
> One thing is for sure, a *lot* of customers will be downgrading or leaving.


I'm certainly anti DVD since I stopped watching them in 2005 in anticipation of BD and HD DVD launching in 2006.
I only rent Blu-ray Discs. BDs have more in common with CDs than any DVD.


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## Goober96 (Jun 28, 2005)

What is everyone's opinion on Blockbuster? They are $9.99 per month including BluRay and game access. They also have the added option of trading in-store.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

aadam101 said:


> Netflix wants everyone to cancel their DVD plan. They want to be out of the DVD business.


It's going to have the opposite effect on me. I'm probably going to drop streaming once the price increase hits. The selection via streaming is too limited and the quality is terrible for anything not HD. I'd rather wait a couple days and get a BD in the mail.

Dan


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## Allanon (Nov 2, 2005)

Goober96 said:


> What is everyone's opinion on Blockbuster? They are $9.99 per month including BluRay and game access. They also have the added option of trading in-store.


Lowest plan I see is $11.99.

https://www.blockbuster.com/signup/m/plan/


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## Goober96 (Jun 28, 2005)

Allanon said:


> Lowest plan I see is $11.99.
> 
> https://www.blockbuster.com/signup/m/plan/


Yeah, if I go to "change plan" that's what I see as well, but when I signed up for the free trial from the "Netlfix customers" link on their front page, I got $9.99 per month after the free trial. Don't know how long the $9.99 will last before they change me to $11.99.

"SUBSCRIPTION PLAN
BLOCKBUSTER Total Access Premium 1 at-a-time, Unlimited mailings
Unlimited In-Store Movie Exchanges
*Plan Price (after trial period):$9.99 / month (plus taxes)*
Next Billing Date:August 22,2011"


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## ltxi (Feb 14, 2010)

I don't quite see where an extra $50/year for a set of services that was already under priced qualifies as madness. Anyone looked at their Comcast or Tivo subscription bills lately??


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

ltxi said:


> I don't quite see where an extra $50/year for a set of services that was already under priced qualifies as madness. Anyone looked at their Comcast or Tivo subscription bills lately??


Imagine if Comcast or TiVo suddenly raised prices 60% in one shot and didn't add anything to your service to justify it. That's basically the gist of it. If Netflix is going to charge more, they should add more items to their streaming libraries.


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## tonestert (Nov 15, 2007)

I wonder if you can change your plan every few months ? Get discs only for a month or 2 watch all the new movies then switch to streaming only for a few months then switch back to discs in another few months. I may try that.


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## mask2343 (Jan 6, 2003)

Goober96 said:


> Yeah, if I go to "change plan" that's what I see as well, but when I signed up for the free trial from the "Netlfix customers" link on their front page, I got $9.99 per month after the free trial. Don't know how long the $9.99 will last before they change me to $11.99.
> 
> "SUBSCRIPTION PLAN
> BLOCKBUSTER Total Access Premium 1 at-a-time, Unlimited mailings
> ...


The problem I had with Blockbuster 3 years ago, and the reason I switched to Netflix, was that they changed their policies EVERY month. At first, we were allowed to return mailed movies to the store AND rent something there for free while they shipped the next one. That was awesome. Then they changed it so they wouldn't ship the next one until you returned the video from the store. THEN they stopped giving free in-store rentals. Then they came out with this club membership, which was discontinued 2 MONTHS later. The in store prices changed at least 3 times. All of this occured within 6 months. It was very frustrating.

I'm sticking with Netflix Instant + 2 Blu-ray. Only increased about $3 per month. Hopefully, the added revenue will allow them to purchase the rights to more TV shows and movies.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

tonestert said:


> I wonder if you can change your plan every few months ? Get discs only for a month or 2 watch all the new movies then switch to streaming only for a few months then switch back to discs in another few months. I may try that.


You can change your plan anytime. Although if it decreases it won't take effect until the next billing cycle. I change mine regularly. for instance, there might be a few days left in my billing cycle and a bunch of titles are coming out I want ot see. So I will change to the 8 out plan, get charged a prorated price of a few dollars. I'll get those titles and then a day before my billing cycle ends I'll switch back to the lower plan.


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## danterner (Mar 4, 2005)

tonestert said:


> I wonder if you can change your plan every few months ? Get discs only for a month or 2 watch all the new movies then switch to streaming only for a few months then switch back to discs in another few months. I may try that.


If you drop a plan, do you lose its queue? Or is the queue still there waiting, should you sign up again?


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## Allanon (Nov 2, 2005)

tonestert said:


> I wonder if you can change your plan every few months ? Get discs only for a month or 2 watch all the new movies then switch to streaming only for a few months then switch back to discs in another few months. I may try that.


You can even put your membership on hold and not pay. This is great if you go on vacation or if there aren't any movies coming out that you want to see. I will suspend my membership for a few months and let the good movies pile up instead of watching a few good movies mixed with a few alright ones. This also comes in handy when fall season comes around and my Tivo is packed with new shows that need to be viewed.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

danterner said:


> If you drop a plan, do you lose its queue? Or is the queue still there waiting, should you sign up again?


The queue stays the same. I've never had it change. I switched to the 8 out plan a few days ago. Today is the last day of my billing cycle. Tomorrow I go on the two out plan. They still shipped me four titles today after shipping four yesterday. So I will still have eight titles out when my new plan starts. And once I ship back enough to drop below 2 out, they will ship me some more titles in my queue.


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## danterner (Mar 4, 2005)

aaronwt said:


> The queue stays the same. I've never had it change. I switched to the 8 out plan a few days ago. Today is the last day of my billing cycle. Tomorrow I go on the two out plan. They still shipped me four titles today after shipping four yesterday. So I will still have eight titles out when my new plan starts. And once I ship back enough to drop below 2 out, they will ship me some more titles in my queue.


Right, but what if you went from "8-Out," which currently includes streaming, to "0-out (no DVDs)" and kept nothing but the streaming-only plan? Right now you have two queues -- the DVD queue, and your streaming queue. When you quit the DVD plan, does your DVD queue disappear and need to be rebuilt if you should ever come back on board? Or does your DVD queue persist even though you are on a streaming-only plan?


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

I've, never done that. I thought I read somewhere that they will keep the queue for a year or two.


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## daveak (Mar 23, 2009)

I put my membership on hold (or did I cancel? - can't remember) for a few months almost three years ago. After about 6-7 months my queue was still there. Your experience may not match mine if you try the same thing.


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## Goober96 (Jun 28, 2005)

Netflix is also faster than BB. I'm currently on the free trial for both services. I shipped a disc back to both yesterday and have already received an e-mail from Netflix that I will receive my next disc tomorrow (2 day turn around). BB still shows the old disc "at home" and no such e-mail received as yet. Still, the game rentals and in-store swaps may make BB a better choice for me.


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

Goober96 said:


> Netflix is also faster than BB. I'm currently on the free trial for both services. I shipped a disc back to both yesterday and have already received an e-mail from Netflix that I will receive my next disc tomorrow (2 day turn around). BB still shows the old disc "at home" and no such e-mail received as yet. Still, the game rentals and in-store swaps may make BB a better choice for me.


When I originally tried BB about 5 or 6 years ago, during the month trial period they lost two discs and there was a 4 day turn around. I guess it didn't get better. Considering there are no BB stores left anywhere near me (I didn't know there were any left anywhere), in-store swaps are useless.


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## ltxi (Feb 14, 2010)

morac said:


> Imagine if Comcast or TiVo suddenly raised prices 60% in one shot and didn't add anything to your service to justify it. That's basically the gist of it. If Netflix is going to charge more, they should add more items to their streaming libraries.


Qualitatively, I understand. Quantitatively still don't see it as an issue.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

morac said:


> Imagine if Comcast or TiVo suddenly raised prices 60% in one shot and didn't add anything to your service to justify it. That's basically the gist of it. If Netflix is going to charge more, they should add more items to their streaming libraries.


Only one Netflix plan went up 60%, the one disk out with streaming, my 3 disk plan went up 20% if i wanted to keep the streaming, and went down 20% when i gave up streaming.


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## daveak (Mar 23, 2009)

Netflix to increase subscription prices. Again. Just in case you wanted to know.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/21/technology/netflix-prices/index.html?hpt=hp_t2



> The streaming video company said Monday that it planned to increase subscription prices for new customers by one or two dollars a month within the next few months. Existing subscribers will be able to continue at their current rate "for a generous time period," Netflix (NFLX) said.


I hope it really is a generous time period. Though that is rather subjective. As a subscriber, my idea of generous may be different than what Netflix may have in mind. Ideally this will truly enrich my experience, like lower bandwidth use for higher quality movies.......


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

Netflix needs to get it's Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, etc extortion money somehow.


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

daveak said:


> Netflix to increase subscription prices. Again. Just in case you wanted to know.
> 
> http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/21/technology/netflix-prices/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
> 
> I hope it really is a generous time period. Though that is rather subjective. As a subscriber, my idea of generous may be different than what Netflix may have in mind. Ideally this will truly enrich my experience, like lower bandwidth use for higher quality movies.......


I'm curious, how much woul Netflix have to increase its prices before you decided to unsubscribe. To me, $8 a month is fine to have a pretty extensive collection of TV shows and movies available to me at the press of a button. I'd probably pay at least $10 for that. If Netflix were to jack up their streaming prices 25% (or $24 a year) are they going to lose 25% of their customers? I seriously doubt it.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

daveak said:


> Netflix to increase subscription prices. Again. Just in case you wanted to know.
> 
> http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/21/technology/netflix-prices/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
> 
> I hope it really is a generous time period. Though that is rather subjective. As a subscriber, my idea of generous may be different than what Netflix may have in mind. Ideally this will truly enrich my experience, like lower bandwidth use for higher quality movies.......


I read where it would be two years. That is more than genrerous if true.


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## sharkster (Jul 3, 2004)

aaronwt said:


> I read where it would be two years. That is more than genrerous if true.


Generous, indeed. I would be very pleased with a company that appreciates their loyal customers in that way.


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## truman861 (Jul 14, 2012)

dbenrosen said:


> Netflix's streaming offering is not robust enough to remove the DVD option, and charging $16/mo for the combination is a bit steep. If they offered (almost) everything they have on DVD via streaming I would drop the DVD offering. As it was announced, come Sept 1 I will probably end up dropping Netflix altogether.


I use the netflix app on my Roamio and my mini's. Seems to work just fine.


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## moedaman (Aug 21, 2012)

truman861 said:


> I use the netflix app on my Roamio and my mini's. Seems to work just fine.


You do know that you quoted a 2 1/2 year old post? And he wasn't even talking about the app itself, just the content.


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## truman861 (Jul 14, 2012)

moedaman said:


> You do know that you quoted a 2 1/2 year old post? And he wasn't even talking about the app itself, just the content.


Well, last time I posted on this forum, Mr Moedaman was happy to jump all over me and tell me it was regarding a 2 1/2 year old post.

Well, here is some NEW info from an email received TODAY

Reads as follows
"Hi John
In order to continue adding more movies and TV Shows, We are increasing our price from $7.99 to $8.99 for new members. As a thank you being a member of Netflix already, we guarantee that your plan and price will not change for two years.
You can review your membership details at anytime by visiting Your Account. As always, if you have any questions, we are happy to answer them. Please call us anytime at 1-888-357-1516.
- The Netflix Team

So, I guess I was a little off the time base last time I posted but this is new as of today, and I will re-iterate that I use Netflix everyday either on my Roamio Plus or my Tivo Mini's and it works just fine, no problems whatsoever.


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## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

I was considering subscribing back to the DVD option instead of the just the streaming but after receiving that email too, I doubt I will now. They are only increasing the monthly fee for new subscribers or for those who change their plan, otherwise this price increase doesn't take effect for existing subscribers for two years. 

I don't see the reason for the increase, they aren't offering anything better. Only thing I see is they are taking advantage of TiVo's recent PR that Tivo is only dvr that has Netflix. I have subscribe to Netflix because Tivo includes it in their U and they are just taking advantage of their popularity to increase revenue for themselves and providing nothing more in return. It was bad enough when they split their DVD and streaming plan into separate plans!


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## sharkster (Jul 3, 2004)

I got the email today from Netflix about the price increase to $8.99.

I think it is super cool that they are giving existing subscribers two years at the current price. 

I use my Roku 3, mostly, because it seems like it works a lot better there than through my Tivos.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

eboydog said:


> I was considering subscribing back to the DVD option instead of the just the streaming but after receiving that email too, I doubt I will now. They are only increasing the monthly fee for new subscribers or for those who change their plan, otherwise this price increase doesn't take effect for existing subscribers for two years.
> 
> I don't see the reason for the increase, they aren't offering anything better. Only thing I see is they are taking advantage of TiVo's recent PR that Tivo is only dvr that has Netflix. I have subscribe to Netflix because Tivo includes it in their U and they are just taking advantage of their popularity to increase revenue for themselves and providing nothing more in return. It was bad enough when they split their DVD and streaming plan into separate plans!


Streaming is a separate subscription from disc. They better not raise my streaming. I go up and down with my Blu-ray Disc plan several times a year. Depending on how many releases come out. I just increased mine from two to four out. And on the 26th I will change it back to two out. But my streaming plan I don't touch. It is $7.99 a month for streaming to four concurrent devices.


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## kherr (Aug 1, 2006)

eboydog said:


> I was considering subscribing back to the DVD option instead of the just the streaming but after receiving that email too, I doubt I will now. They are only increasing the monthly fee for new subscribers or for those who change their plan, otherwise this price increase doesn't take effect for existing subscribers for two years.
> 
> I don't see the reason for the increase, they aren't offering anything better. Only thing I see is they are taking advantage of TiVo's recent PR that Tivo is only dvr that has Netflix. I have subscribe to Netflix because Tivo includes it in their U and they are just taking advantage of their popularity to increase revenue for themselves and providing nothing more in return. It was bad enough when they split their DVD and streaming plan into separate plans!


I doubt that Tivo has anything to do with it. Costs for everything is going up besides maybe bandwidth. The Movie people want more. Data centers want more. ISPs are learning to charge for access to their networks, which they didn't have before. Salaries are more ..... Have you been to the grocery store lately ...... everything is MORE.


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

eboydog said:


> I was considering subscribing back to the DVD option instead of the just the streaming but after receiving that email too, I doubt I will now. They are only increasing the monthly fee for new subscribers or for those who change their plan, otherwise this price increase doesn't take effect for existing subscribers for two years.
> 
> I don't see the reason for the increase, they aren't offering anything better. Only thing I see is they are taking advantage of TiVo's recent PR that Tivo is only dvr that has Netflix. I have subscribe to Netflix because Tivo includes it in their U and they are just taking advantage of their popularity to increase revenue for themselves and providing nothing more in return. It was bad enough when they split their DVD and streaming plan into separate plans!


I re-subscribed to DVD because Netflix offered me a free month. I was going to cancel after that, but I had a few items left in my queue.

As for Netflix's streaming library not increasing. They are getting exclusive rights to stream all Disney movies (including Marvel ones) in 2015 (no pay channels can show the films).


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

I just looked at my account page and I see the new prices. The options shown on my page are



> Change Streaming Plan
> 
> Watch on 1 screen at a time in Standard Definition.
> 
> ...


So it shows the 2 screen streaming plan at $8.99. So I guess as long as I don't mess with my streaming plan it should stay at 4 screens at a time for $7.99. At least until they raise current subscribers prices in two years.

EDIT:  I just noticed it listed the 1 screen streaming in SD for $7.99.


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

eboydog said:


> I was considering subscribing back to the DVD option instead of the just the streaming but after receiving that email too, I doubt I will now. They are only increasing the monthly fee for new subscribers or for those who change their plan, otherwise this price increase doesn't take effect for existing subscribers for two years.
> 
> I don't see the reason for the increase, they aren't offering anything better. Only thing I see is they are taking advantage of TiVo's recent PR that Tivo is only dvr that has Netflix. I have subscribe to Netflix because Tivo includes it in their U and they are just taking advantage of their popularity to increase revenue for themselves and providing nothing more in return. It was bad enough when they split their DVD and streaming plan into separate plans!


It never ceases to amaze me when people complain about a company raising its prices. They are a for-profit organization. The only reason they need is, "We want to make more money for our shareholders." They obviously believed that in raising their prices 12.5%, their new subscriber numbers would go down by less than 12.5%. It's hard to disagree with them. And really, if you can't afford the $12 a month in 2 years, you really shouldn't be subscribing to Netflix in the first place.

When the DVD and streaming split was announced in 2011, the cost was $7.99. Today, it's $7.99. If they had raised prices in line with the cost of inflation, you'd be paying $8.40 today. If you project that out to 2016 with the average rate of inflation for the last 3 years, you'd be paying $8.69 when the increase takes effect. Essentially, you're paying 30 cents more a month.

Now, beyond all that you think you're not getting anything better? In 2011 there was no 4th season of Arrested Development. No House of Cards. No Orange Is the New Black. No agreement for the Disney Catalog. No Marvel series. All of these things cost money. Netflix is a content provider now, not just someplace you can stream old movies. Now, you can sit here and say you have no need for these things, but to say they're not offering anything better is just patently false.

I feel like we take certain things for granted without realizing just how amazing they are. If you wanted to buy a Blu-Ray season set of the 3 shows that I listed above, you're probably paying more than the $96 you pay each year for Netflix. Now, it's possible that Netflix turns into Comcast at some point and raise your bill every month, but they're nowhere close to it yet.


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## lujan (May 24, 2010)

It amazes me when I see someone defending a company that is already making tons of profits and is still increasing prices. As far as what I've noticed recently is that they are buying less and less blu-ray movies. I have the subscription for both blu-ray and SD DVDs. I've noticed that there are more and more movies that don't come with the blu-ray version on my queue. The ones that are available on blu-ray ("Reasonable Doubt" for instance) remain at the "Very Long Wait" status so they are obviously buying less copies of the blu-ray version of the movies. Why do they need to increase rates at all since they're obviously already using other methods to decrease costs?


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

I still receive my movies 95% of the time on release day. They ship them to me on a Monday and I get them on a Tuesday. I rarely get old releases from Netflix, mainly new releases. And anything I get is BD only.

If I want a 3D BD or a BD without dumbed down audio or video(for the handful of tites that have lower quality audio/video rental releases with Netflix and Redbox), then I use www.3d-blurayrental.com. I have the three out plan with them to supplement Netflix and Redbox.


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## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

Sparty99 said:


> It never ceases to amaze me when people complain about a company raising its prices. They are a for-profit organization. The only reason they need is, "We want to make more money for our shareholders." They obviously believed that in raising their prices 12.5%, their new subscriber numbers would go down by less than 12.5%. It's hard to disagree with them. And really, if you can't afford the $12 a month in 2 years, you really shouldn't be subscribing to Netflix in the first place.
> 
> When the DVD and streaming split was announced in 2011, the cost was $7.99. Today, it's $7.99. If they had raised prices in line with the cost of inflation, you'd be paying $8.40 today. If you project that out to 2016 with the average rate of inflation for the last 3 years, you'd be paying $8.69 when the increase takes effect. Essentially, you're paying 30 cents more a month.
> 
> ...


Making a profit is fine, providing less service for a higher price is not.

Netflix is not "amazing" they don't make anything, they only distribute something that someone else made, their streaming service is terrible, the only reason they exist is that they have drove the physical movie rental business's out of business and created a vacuum were they are one of the only survivors.

The only thing amazing about Netflix is 1 of quality movie titles with the rest being movie titles that are dudes at the box office or 20 years older or older.

As far as TV shows go, really isn't the the reason to have a Tivo? I have no desire to rent past episodes of some half rate TV show that wasn't that good in the first place. If Netflix wasn't full of so much fluff, it would be worth it but it's not.

The only purpose of Netflix is to make up for the shortcoming of us who can't have our cable companies PPV or on demand movies. It the nickel and dime and is getting old, be Netflix, Tivo service, cable card rental. It all adds up and there is no justification for Netflix to raise their rates other than "we can".

If they are such a successful company then they should be able to make more profits by increasing subscribership not by increasing their rates and providing nothing in return.

Thank you for your points you bring forward about Netflix, I'm almost ready to unsubscribe more than I was before! If Tivo comes forward with a Amazon prime streaming client, Netflix will be history.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

eboydog said:


> ....................
> 
> The only purpose of Netflix is to make up for the shortcoming of us who can't have our cable companies PPV or on demand movies. It the nickel and dime and is getting old, be Netflix, Tivo service, cable card rental. It all adds up and there is no justification for Netflix to raise their rates other than "we can".
> 
> ..............


Cable companies VOD is crap. At least Comcast and FiOS in my area is. The Netflix streams are better quality than what Comcast or FiOS has in my area. MAny times it's only in stereo on FiOS and Comcast. And then the video quality is also not very good. Of course Netflix is not the best quality either. But in my area it is certainly better than what FiOS and Comcast has. At least with the HD content. No idea about SD.

If I had a box for VOD I would still use Netflix most of the time. When I last had one with Comcast and FiOS, I rarely used them. I preferred to stream from Netflix and Vudu than what they offered. They have not changed a whole lot since then. Granted the cable companies have a lot more content now compared to what they had back then, but the quality is still the same. At least everytime I check it out at other peoples house. I can see how bad it still is around here.


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## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

I'm no means vouching for the merit's of cable companies VOD, I actually can't state how well my cable companies VOD quality is due to the fact that switched to them after dropping Directv and have had nothing but Tivo's for the last umpteen years and never have yet used such. I'm a dedicated TiVo fan who left Directv when they dropped TiVo.

Right now i'm fighting my cable company as due to their crappy internet service, my netflix has been unusable for the last two weeks so right now I have nothing nice to say about Netflix or my cable company so disregard my statements as being from a old angry guy! I didn't take it nicely when I received the email from Netflix stating their price increase while I can't currently use the service I pay them for which yes, they have no control over my ISP but none of it sits well with me right now.

It is interesting that the cable companies blame agreements for why they can't include Netflix in their Tivo service which of course competes against their premium movie choices. We wouldn't want the cable companies to miss out out on any intentional revenue no would we?


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

I'm stunned at some of the postings in this thread. We live in a market-driven capitalistic economy. With a few limits, any company can charge what they want, offer what they want, and give any level of service they want. If Amazon wants to charge $200 for Prime, they can. They may lose 95% of their customers, but it's their choice as a for-profit company. If Netflix wants to raise prices, they can. You can criticize them all you want; either drop your subscription or pay the increase.



Sparty99 said:


> It never ceases to amaze me when people complain about a company raising its prices. They are a for-profit organization. The only reason they need is, "We want to make more money for our shareholders."


100% this. Honestly, the fact you need to explain this is astounding to me.



lujan said:


> It amazes me when I see someone defending a company that is already making tons of profits and is still increasing prices. <snip> Why do they need to increase rates at all since they're obviously already using other methods to decrease costs?


Because this ain't communism.



eboydog said:


> Making a profit is fine, providing less service for a higher price is not.


Sure it is. Vote with your wallet. History is full of success stories that disappear later. Until someone comes up with a better Netflix, millions will send them whatever $$$ they ask for. That's the beauty of capitalism.


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## lujan (May 24, 2010)

astrohip said:


> ... That's the beauty of capitalism.


There's nothing beautiful about capitalism if it means the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer.


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

lujan said:


> There's nothing beautiful about capitalism if it means the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer.


A ridiculous counter. Netflix is publicly owned; buy some and enjoy the wealth. Also be aware it lost around 90% of its market value just two years ago. Capitalism can be a *****.

If you want to debate wealth disparity, then start a thread for that. It will have more to do with how much of a person's wealth you let them keep, not make. Although I'm sure there's a relationship between the two somehow.


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## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

Amazing perspectives, I stand by by statement that paying more and receiving less is not right. This has nothing to do with free capitalism but rather poor business practice. 

As far as voting with your wallet, such is not possible when the only choice is their way or the highway.


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## L David Matheny (Jan 29, 2011)

eboydog said:


> As far as voting with your wallet, such is not possible when the only choice is their way or the highway.


When you choose "the highway", that is essentially "voting with your wallet" since you stop paying. In fact, the more traditional expression is "voting with your feet", meaning that you take your business elsewhere. And if a particular company has no real competitors (yet), then you pay or you do without. Life is full of choices.


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## moedaman (Aug 21, 2012)

lujan said:


> There's nothing beautiful about capitalism if it means the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer.


The real reason the "rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer" is because the rich keep doing the things which made them rich and the poor keep doing the things which made them poor. No politician in this country will ever admit to this though. Class warfare helps keep people getting elected.


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## moedaman (Aug 21, 2012)

eboydog said:


> Amazing perspectives, I stand by by statement that paying more and receiving less is not right. This has nothing to do with free capitalism but rather poor business practice.
> 
> As far as voting with your wallet, such is not possible when the only choice is their way or the highway.


There are a lot of choices other than Netflix. Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus and Redbox Instant for example. Now those choices may not be as good as Netflix for most people, but they are alternatives.

Of course you could always move up a tier with your cable package. But I think $8.99 for Netflix is better money spent than a $10+ increase for more cable channels.


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## sharkster (Jul 3, 2004)

I can totally understand and respect the opinions of others. IMO, only raising it one dollar (when I think they could have easily raised it two dollars) AND giving existing customer a two-year pass is excellent business. 

I don't feel like they are taking anything away. I also have the choice whether to stay or go. If I'm still able to watch shows/movies, and the service is still useful to me, I'll still be there at $8.99.


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

lujan said:


> _*It amazes me when I see someone defending a company that is already making tons of profits and is still increasing prices. *_ As far as what I've noticed recently is that they are buying less and less blu-ray movies. I have the subscription for both blu-ray and SD DVDs. I've noticed that there are more and more movies that don't come with the blu-ray version on my queue. The ones that are available on blu-ray ("Reasonable Doubt" for instance) remain at the "Very Long Wait" status so they are obviously buying less copies of the blu-ray version of the movies. Why do they need to increase rates at all since they're obviously already using other methods to decrease costs?


When I see something like what I highlighted above, I immediately assume that the person is suggesting that there's a limit to how much a company should make, which is ludicrous unless you're looking for a communist society. Now, maybe that's not what you intended, but it's not that difficult to come to that conclusion. If you don't like the price increase, that's fine, but your choice is to stop subscribing to Netflix or bite the bullet. Suggesting that there's a limit to how much profit one should make is a road I don't think anyone wants to go down.


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

eboydog said:


> Making a profit is fine, providing less service for a higher price is not.
> 
> Netflix is not "amazing" they don't make anything, they only distribute something that someone else made, their streaming service is terrible, the only reason they exist is that they have drove the physical movie rental business's out of business and created a vacuum were they are one of the only survivors.
> 
> ...


I have absolutely no idea how you can support the statement that they're providing less service. I've never had streaming issues. The content is getting better, including original series that, while they may not produce them, they are choosing to distribute them, which costs money. They're dealing with the change in net neutrality rules, which requires them to sign deals with the internet providers, which, again, costs money.

The sad thing about Netflix raising their prices is that responses like we've seen in this thread are completely predictable. No one wants to pay more money, but I have yet to see a legitimate complaint about the cost increase.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Since when has Netflix made tons of money? Sure they make a profit but it is nowhere near being outrageous or obscene.


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## lujan (May 24, 2010)

aaronwt said:


> I still receive my movies 95% of the time on release day. They ship them to me on a Monday and I get them on a Tuesday. I rarely get old releases from Netflix, mainly new releases. And anything I get is BD only.
> 
> ...


A lot of this probably depends on what area of the country you're in. I hardly ever get the movies on release day and more of them are not even available in blu-ray but only SD DVD.


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## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

Like I mentioned, I'm just mad at all of them right now, my Netflix hasn't worked right for over three weeks and while trying to find out why, I received the message saying how wonderful Netflix is and the how rates were going up in two years. I'm just wondering if it will actually become usable in two years?? 

I have a support incident open with both Netflix and my cable company with each of them blaming the other with no resolution in sight but of course everyone recieved their monthly fee while I haven't recieved what I paid for. 

I can't get no satisfaction. But as they say you can't also get what you want, but you can try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need. But I try, I try but I can't get NO sat'is fact'ion...... Woof, Woof!


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## chiguy50 (Nov 9, 2009)

L David Matheny said:


> When you choose "the highway", that is essentially "voting with your wallet" since you stop paying. In fact, the more traditional expression is "voting with your feet", meaning that you take your business elsewhere. And if a particular company has no real competitors (yet), then you pay or you do without. Life is full of choices.


I'm among those who voted with his feet back in the fall of 2011, but it was not just the price increase at the time (essentially doubling the subscription cost by separating the streaming and DVD-by-mail services) that moved me to do so. Rather it was the crass, supercilious e-mail announcement from CEO Reed Hastings conveying to me the clear message that Netflix decision-makers had no regard for their customers. To this day I still can't understand how any CIO could allow such an outrageous public announcement to be released; and the reaction from both the subscriber base and the stock market was as disastrously negative as it was predictable. It almost cost Hastings his job, and he quickly tried to backpedal with a follow-up communication and a softening of the policy.

After a 2-1/2 year hiatus I'm now back as a Netflix subscriber (BD-by-mail only for now) and I see the current price increase announcement as a sign that Hastings has learned a valuable lesson. Although I don't like to see prices go up, the amount is reasonable, is well justified given increased operating costs, and was handled with great aplomb and admirable consideration for existing customers.

I think I've established my bona fides as no Netflix apologist, but I applaud them for the way they've implemented this newest, modest fee increase. I think it bodes well for their future and makes me happy to continue as a subscriber. And although the BD-by-mail fee has not been increased in this go-around, I would (reluctantly) pay a dollar or two more per month for this service if it meant keeping it viable.


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