Netflix price increase coming

[j_garcia]

*Increase dang it - typo, mods please fix title.

For NEW subscribers. Existing ones will apparently not be affected until later.

The company, in a quarterly letter to shareholders, said it plans to impose "a one or two dollar increase, depending on the country, later this quarter for new members only." It did not name the countries. Existing customers would keep their current price "for a generous time period," it said.

Netflix plans to raise prices as U.S. streaming subscribers grow

Looks like THIS is how they will add the new infrastructure for a dedicated trunk for their traffic that it is said Comcast is trying to force them to implement. That "generous" time period better be VERY generous...

 

[afterlife2]

They better get newer movies quicker stream wise. I guess since they are making their own series they need the money? Hmmm

 

[zieglj01]

I will continue with/keep Amazon.

 

[Ponzio]

Existing ones will apparently not be affected until later.

That "generous" time period better be VERY generous...

According to an article I read this morning on philly.com it's anywhere from 8 months to a year. No specific's as of yet.

 

[Irvrobinson]

Netflix is not exactly a highly profitable company. They earned $53M on $1.3B in revenue in this past quarter, which is about 4%. Pretty bad for a services company. I'm not surprised they're raising prices.

 

[j_garcia]

That's likely because of the physical media portion of the business. If they dropped that, their profit would likely rise, though they would then have a bunch of pissed off EX-customers again. Saying that there is a price increase coming is their way of getting more people to sign up right now. Nice marketing move. Other than new titles though, I don't see them adding a whole lot in the way of features or capabilities and a price increase with nothing new probably won't go over too well. They think they have the market cornered, and while they are the "defacto" brand, that doesn't mean they're safe.

I am a Prime member as well anyway Amazon already increased the price of Prime, though they are also about to offer up new features and no doubt it had to do with the release of the FireTV as well. Amazon is slated to introduce a music streaming service that will be included for Prime members sometime this year. Games on the FireTV seems a bit reaching, as does their new Phone. I think they're trying to do too many things.

 

[darien87]

I still have no interest in streaming. I wish there was an alternative to Netflix for disc based renting. I know there's a Redbox in my local Safeway but it always has a line and I don't know how big their BD selection is.

 

[Ponzio]

it's a happy day at the Comcast offices down in Philly.

Netflix needs to hang tight or they're going to be chum. they lost 800,000 subscribers last time and customers are their only bargaining chip if things go belly up. I hope they make it; I'm a happy customer and I also own Comcast stock. competition is good.

while I agree that a 4% profit isn't earth shattering, 53 million dollars ain't exactly chopped liver Irv.

Netflix poised to raise prices after strong 1Q

 

[j_garcia]

I still have no interest in streaming. I wish there was an alternative to Netflix for disc based renting. I know there's a Redbox in my local Safeway but it always has a line and I don't know how big their BD selection is.

Redbox could not be simpler. Reserve ahead online (or phone app!). Selection is the issue. They occasionally have something a little bit older in the box, but more or less you're stuck with recent big name releases (which are what I use it for) and some garbage new releases that you probably would stream instead lol. Up north at the other house, I use Redbox all the time. There are 3 in one shopping center alone, so the chances of something being there that I want to watch is high and I almost only rent BDs.

 

[Irvrobinson]

while I agree that a 4% profit isn't earth shattering, 53 million dollars ain't exactly chopped liver Irv.

It is when your market cap is $22B. Of course, what do I know? I thought they were over-valued when their market cap was only one third as much!

 

[shadyJ]

Netflix is being shaken down by the telcom industry. It doesn't make a difference if they raise their prices, they will still get screwed. It's a sad but inevitable that they will lose customers due to crap infrastructure by telcom companies. The FCC tried to help us but the courts screwed them -and us- over. Sounds to me like these telcom giants are a little too big, maybe some anti-monopoly breakups would do the country some good.

 

[j_garcia]

Well, we know Comcast is the one shaking them down for sure. That's what I was saying, the price increase is likely to pay for the new infrastructure Comcast is more or less forcing them to foot the bill for - their own trunk. When Comcast figured out they didn't have the leverage they thought they did with Netflix to get them to cooperate, they changed tactics. In the meantime, Comcast, AT&T, and others are scrambling to come up with their own streaming services to compete; aka business as usual for the money grubbers. As Redbox has apparently found out already, people aren't looking for another streaming service.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

HBO will make it's content available on amazon prime, but not GOT
Amazon Prime Scores HBO Programming (But Not Game Of Thrones) – Consumerist
Everyone cheers, but netflix

 

[j_garcia]

HBO will make it's content available on amazon prime, but not GOT
Amazon Prime Scores HBO Programming (But Not Game Of Thrones) – Consumerist
Everyone cheers, but netflix

No True Detective either, but this is just the beginning. No doubt they are holding onto the most popular stuff because they know that content alone is worth a ton. Plus if they provide ALL of their top content via something like Prime, the cable companies would be a little ticked off and HBO itself would lose direct subscribers who already have Prime and others looking to drop cable.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

very true, HBO wants to have a pie (very lucrative deals with cable co) and eat it too (sell content to cord cutters)

 

[j_garcia]

Here's where the price increase is going. Not only did they cut the deal with Comcast, they just cut one with Verizon. I like how they say in the article that Netflix is paying them for that bandwidth, because we already know who is paying for it

Netflix and Verizon Just Signed a Traffic Deal, And That's Bad