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Netflix To Raise Prices By 13% To 18% (cnbc.com)

Netflix is raising its U.S. prices by 13 percent to 18 percent, its biggest increase since the company launched its streaming service 12 years ago. From a report: Its most popular plan will see the largest hike, to $13 per month from $11. That option offers high-definition streaming on up to two different internet-connected devices simultaneously. Even at the higher price, that plan is still a few dollars cheaper than HBO, whose streaming service charges $15 per month. The extra cash will help to pay for Netflix's huge investment in original shows and films and finance the heavy debt it has assumed to ward off rivals such as Amazon, Disney and AT&T. This marks the fourth time that Netflix has raised its U.S. prices; the last hike came in late 2017. But this is the first time that higher prices will hit all 58 million U.S. subscribers, the number Netflix reported at the end of September.

3 of 228 comments (clear)

  1. Re:If only ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Fuck advertisers. They should all be round up and gassed. The ad industry is a plague on society.

  2. Re:If only ... by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 3, Informative

    Kids barely watch Netflix even when it's available - YouTube has far more interesting and entertaining content, with zero direct fees.

    --
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  3. Re:If only ... by Mousit · · Score: 3, Informative

    #2: Cable TV is broadcast on it's schedule and that's it. Miss a show/forget to DVR it? Too bad, so sad - better hope they decide to re-air it at a later date and time. Streaming let's you pick anything from the library to watch whenever and wherever you want it.

    Streaming has been integrated with cable for a long time. First it was called "on-demand" and today that is available on virtually every cable service at almost all price tiers. However it's even been expanded such that a huge number of television networks (both broadcast and cable-only) have their own streaming services that are available at no extra cost to cable subscribers (and are often ONLY available to cable subscribers, not sold direct, which is why they don't get any press like these standalone services). That includes not just the existing on-demand stuff, but also location-agnostic streaming through their apps on mobile devices, and via boxes like Roku and FireTV and all that. NBCUniversal just announced they are also launching a streaming service, and said it will also be no extra charge to cable subscribers (or you can pay $12/mo for it alone, which I think is an absurd price).

    So no, by and large you are not beholden to a broadcast schedule.

    To be honest, I think it's this sort of integration that may even save cable. Why pay 18 different streaming services a separate monthly fee, when you can pay one cable bill and still get access to most (admittedly not all) of those? And with the prices of the streaming services going the way they are, together they're going to end up costing as much as, if not more than, that "f'ing expensive" cable bill anyway.