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TVWeek, Business Insider

Netflix Quietly Rolls Out Price Hike

Oct 12, 2015  •  Post A Comment

Netflix has raised the price of its most popular subscription plan. The service is now charging $9.99 a month for its Standard service, an increase from $8.99.

The Basic service remains priced at $7.99, while Netflix’s Premium plan is unchanged at $11.99. Basic service allows customers to watch a single screen and does not provide hi-def. Standard offers two screens with HD available, while Premium enables four screens and provides Ultra HD capability.

Without much fanfare, the company posted its new pricing structure on its website last week, marking its second price increase in 17 months.

Business Insider notes that Netflix has faced escalating costs for its programming, including high-profile originals such as “House of Cards.”

“Netflix’s 42 million existing U.S. subscribers are being insulated from the price bump,” Business Insider notes. “That’s a move CEO Reed Hastings is taking in an effort to avoid a repeat of the customer backlash that stung the company four years ago when it raised rates by as much as 60 percent for subscribers who wanted Internet video and DVD-by-mail rentals.”

The report adds: “The abrupt price increase in 2011 triggered an exodus that cost Netflix more than 800,000 subscribers and caused its stock to lose 80 percent of its value in a tumultuous 13-month period.”

Customers who have been on board since May 2014 will continue to pay $7.99 a month under a two-year rate freeze, and existing customers who subscribed after the previous price increase have their $8.99 rate locked in through October 2016, Business Insider notes.

house of cards“House of Cards”

One Comment

  1. Still way better than paying the cable companies for channels I have never watched and never will watch.

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