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Netflix is Testing Even More Expensive Subscription Prices (bgr.com)

Posted by msmash on from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Every once in a while, we see Netflix test new plans in certain markets, and most of them involve price hikes. The same goes for the latest test that was spotted over in Italy, where the streaming giant is toying with a couple of different scenarios. First spotted by Italian-language blog SmartWorld, the tests suggest that Netflix is toying with the idea of either raising Standard and Premium subscription, or increasing all of its prices across the board.

Right now the default monthly Netflix streaming prices for Italy and other countries in the European Union are at Euro 7.99, or ~$9.1 (Base), Euro 10.99, or ~$12.5 (Standard), and Euro 13.99, or $16 (Premium). One of the tests that Netflix is currently conducting proposes that the Base subscription stays the same, but the Standard and Premium plans go up to Euro 12.99, or ~$14.8 and Euro 17.99, or ~$20.5 respectively.

15 of 143 comments (clear)

  1. You know, at some point soon... by cayenne8 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    ....they're gonna start really losing people.

    They have less and less content on there, and yet they keep raising their prices?

    For what exactly are we getting for this increate of money paid in?

    Original content is ok, some of it is pretty good, but they hardly ever these days have a modern movie I want to watch, which is why I subscribed to them int he first place!!!

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    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    1. Re:You know, at some point soon... by nanospook · · Score: 3, Informative

      Lately, though they provide a lot of good original content. E.g. Altered Carbon, Umbrella Academy, ..

      --
      Have you fscked your local propeller head today?
    2. Re:You know, at some point soon... by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Informative

      I have to pay $2.00 in a soda machine for a bottle of Coke. 10 years ago I needed to pay $1.50 and 20 years ago it was $1.00.
      It is like its price rises 3% every year.

      However the biggest problem with Subscription services, is that over time, they will need to raise their prices, however people have the money for the services budgeted. So Price rises tend to cause outrage. Vs having a DVD and then getting one at a higher price in the future. This doesn't cause as much outrage.

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      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    3. Re:You know, at some point soon... by cayenne8 · · Score: 3, Informative

      I have to pay $2.00 in a soda machine for a bottle of Coke. 10 years ago I needed to pay $1.50 and 20 years ago it was $1.00.

      While I get your point...I have to say WOW, where do you buy your cokes?

      I've seen it that high at places like airports where you expect to be gouged, but in regular life, I don't regularly see coke machines THAT expensive. Hell, I don't pay that much in a convienience store...

      Most places where I live, yes, I guess about $1 or $1.25 is the norm, although you can at times find them slightly less...but where do you live? Is everything around you really expensive?

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      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    4. Re:You know, at some point soon... by wyattstorch516 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There is a difference between paying more money for the same thing and paying more money for less. Netflix loses content each time their licensing deals expire. Soon you will be paying for their originals and not much else.

    5. Re:You know, at some point soon... by cayenne8 · · Score: 2

      hat was quick, wasn't there just an article about how they are loosing money to pirates because kids continue to use their parents account even after they move out.,

      LOSING, not loosing....HTH.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    6. Re:You know, at some point soon... by Shaitan · · Score: 3, Interesting

      "people were tired of that model and wanted a less immense set of content for far less money."

      huh? No, no they don't. They want an immense set which includes all the good content from all the offerings for the price of any one of the offerings. Hell, I'd pay as much as $50 (without bullshit add on fees/taxes) for a one stop shop that includes streaming of all the new release movies (high grade remux quality) and commercial free shows including the premiums as well as sports with titles never disappearing from the catalog. The shows could even keep the commercials so long as everything is fast-forwardable.

      The last thing I want is 14 little mini apps I have to hunt between looking for what I want each nickel and diming me and adding up to more than I paid for cable.

    7. Re:You know, at some point soon... by terrycarlino · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You act like that's Netflix fault. It's not like they went to Disney and said "Go start your own streaming service. We don't want your content." It's not even like Netflix was too cheap to pay for it. They paid $100 million to keep streaming Friends, which while not my cup of tea is hugely popular among certain groups.

      Netflix doesn't have first run movies because the studios won't give Netflix streaming rights over them. In most cases those movies aren't available for streaming anywhere but Amazon, where you'll pay a price equivalent to buying the DVD for them, and have no guarantee they won't evaporate eventually.

    8. Re:You know, at some point soon... by JesseMcDonald · · Score: 2

      Makes no sense .... funnily loose is not red underlined, seems my spelling correction accepts it somehow.

      "Loose" and "loosing" are perfectly valid words—as in "the knot is loose" or "Mr. Burns deals with unwanted visitors by loosing his hounds." A spellchecker only flags words which aren't in the dictionary; it can't tell when you use the wrong word.

      --
      "The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat
  2. 11 by religionofpeas · · Score: 3, Funny

    These prices go up to eleven.

    Normal prices go up to 10, but if you need to extra push over the cliff, you put it up to 11. One higher profit.

  3. Tech by fluffernutter · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The old network business model has to go. Let a network make shows, make them available to a box, and let me buy what I want. If I like a network I'll buy more of their shows. These old practices are keeping the technology for media watching back in the 80's. I'm getting tired of waiting for this to catch up.

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    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  4. Live by the sword... by pr0t0 · · Score: 2

    Netflix, and to a lesser extent, Amazon Prime Video, have done a fantastic job of convincing me that I can live without cable television. I've been a cord-cutter for a few years now, made all the easier with the fantastic content they've been putting out. The side-effect of that is that though is that I've also lowered the value that television-based entertainment has in my life. I'm down to just two hours per day now, and I can go long periods of time without watching anything.

    Obviously, Netflix needs to keep its head above the water with all of the ever-increasing service and production costs. However, there is a threshhold for most people where the price exceeds the value. I don't know where that is for me personally, but it's definitely getting pretty close.

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    I'm sorry, but your opinion seems to be wrong.
  5. The Splintering Continues by Voyager529 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't intrinsically mind my Netflix bill going up another buck or two a month; that's about in line with inflation when they started doing the streaming thing.

    The bigger issue is that they're shifting, and while I get it, it's overall less compelling. They killed Blockbuster by allowing DVD rentals in the mail without any late fees. They pivoted toward streaming, because obviously that was the next logical step. Then, they started producing original content because it was starting to cost more in licensing to keep big-four movies in the list than it cost to produce their own, and with House of Cards and Orange Is The New Black turning out to be pretty popular, I certainly can't blame them for focusing more on original content than trying to license Hollywood blockbusters.

    The problem is that as the third party content continues to wane, Netflix stops being Netflix and they end up just being the new HBO, while also competing with HBO, and Disney, and everyone else who wants a bigger slice of a smaller pie.

    Now, there's enough good Netflix content across the spectrum for them to sustain an audience, and Netflix has already proven that they have a market for their original content.

    The question is whether their original content is something most of their customers will be willing to pay more for, and while I think they are, I think that for Netflix to continue to grow as another-HBO-on-the-Internet, they're going to start to be doing it at the expense of the companies from whom they previously licensed content. It will be interesting whether Netflix starts beating Disney at their own game, or vice versa...because I submit that the lack of any Disney/Marvel/Star Wars content is going to be a bigger tell than a $2 rate hike.

    1. Re:The Splintering Continues by rhsanborn · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They had to make the pivot for exactly the reason you mentioned. In early days, main-stream content was easy and cheap to license. It isn't anymore, so Netflix couldn't continue to exist. Continuing that business model meant Netflix was going to be dead. This new gambit either has to work, or it won't, but the old Netflix model of cheap third party content won't be back. I think it ultimately ends up with Netflix shrinking and having to be ok with that due to more competition. Maybe a micro-payments system might take over at some point where we can very democratically vote with our dollars, but ultimately, I don't think people really want that.

    2. Re:The Splintering Continues by AnonyMouseCowWard · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think you're absolutely spot-on. Netflix of old is gone, or soon will be gone. Every media company is now realizing the value of owning the Internet distribution channel, and won't easily lease rights to a 3rd-party, which ultimately means a fragmentation of the market, the death of Netflix/Hulu, and a lot of Disney/HBO/etc. streaming services.

      The one problem media companies are not seeing is that Netflix is/was successful because it was an aggregator of content; people don't necessarily want to pay for the Disney Channel on its own at $15/month, that option always existed (more or less) via cable. I posit that as the market fragments itself, consumers will simply go back to piracy, because that's the only convenient and cheap way of getting the content.