Anyone else miffed at Netflix price increase???

[brotj7]

I have netflix with streaming and 1 dvd at a time, and I decided the 1x bluray at a time was worth the extra $2 all for $11.99/mo. Last night I got an email saying they were splitting the service, streaming for 7.99, and bluray for 9.99, total $17.98. ~50% increase. There is no grandfathered, or combined option price, just the sum of the individuals. I can see a $1-2/mo increase as operational costs have gone up, but 50% sucks.

 

[soulcougher73]

There is a huge thread in OT on this. Im not miffed as i expected at some point they would gauge for more money. I did drop the same plan you mentioned you had down to just streaming only. I didnt watch enough disc movies to matter.

 

[jtvang125]

Most of the blame should be on the greedy movie companies. The upcoming increase in licensing their content is outrageous. Netflix is just passing this along to the consumers.

 

[BurnItDwn]

The way I see it, I watch a lot of movies, $8 for streaming is a VERY good deal. I'd consider paying closer to $50 for streaming if they had their entire library available....

 

[techwanabe]

I have netflix with streaming and 1 dvd at a time, and I decided the 1x bluray at a time was worth the extra $2 all for $11.99/mo. Last night I got an email saying they were splitting the service, streaming for 7.99, and bluray for 9.99, total $17.98. ~50% increase. There is no grandfathered, or combined option price, just the sum of the individuals. I can see a $1-2/mo increase as operational costs have gone up, but 50% sucks.

I'm miffed too. I have the same plan as you for $11.99/mo 1 disc out at a time plan and quite frankly mostly stream these days. I find myself ordering a new DVD only once or twice a month. Not worth it. My reaction to this will be to switch to streaming only service once the new price structure kicks in September.

End result, I downgrade my service and pay less. Maybe a good thing. I just don't get actual discs that often over the long haul.

 

[Fardringle]

I'm not surprised. Netflix wants to push as many people as possible to their streaming service since it costs a lot to manage the disc mailing service. I personally wouldn't be too annoyed about this except for the fact that they simply do not have enough of a selection on their streaming service. This is in large part because the studios and distribution companies either want to charge way too much or simply won't allow Netflix to stream their movies at all. They do have quite a bit in the streaming library and add new stuff regularly (mostly older shows and movies), but are missing so much that I need to have both streaming and disc options so next month I get to start paying double for no added value...

On the other hand, they didn't send me a notice about this like they did to most of their customers, so maybe I should just pretend that I don't know about it and call and complain a lot when they increase my subscription price without notifying me in advance.

 

[queequeg99]

End result, I downgrade my service and pay less. Maybe a good thing. I just don't get actual discs that often over the long haul.

I'm in a similar boat (but in reverse). This increase (in conjunction with the increase earlier this year) would result in my monthly fee going from the high teens to the high 20s (including taxes). That's just too much. I don't stream. Additionally, after taking a hard look at my usage, I determined that the 2 DVD plan would work. So I'm back at a low-mid teens price point.

If netflix ever tries to go all streaming (as I suspect they will in the not-too-distant future), I'll just drop them altogether, as will a huge number of people in Qwest territory who will never be able to purchase DSL service above 1.5mbps.

 

[techwanabe]

I'm in a similar boat (but in reverse).
If netflix ever tries to go all streaming (as I suspect they will in the not-too-distant future), I'll just drop them altogether, as will a huge number of people in Qwest territory who will never be able to purchase DSL service above 1.5mbps.

What is the alternative. The news story on NPR this morning mentioned how all the movie rental stores are closing down. The closest Block Buster near me closed down within the last 6 months.

I originally went Netflix so I could rent bluray movies because I didn't want to buy them - cost was too high for movies I mostly just watch once.

 

[The Stigenator]

So I had a 2 dvd + online streaming for about 16 with tax.. its gone to 20 with tax..

I am debating downsizing to 1 dvd, but yeah.. this is highway robbery.

 

[Tsavo]

So I had a 2 dvd + online streaming for about 16 with tax.. its gone to 20 with tax..

I am debating downsizing to 1 dvd, but yeah.. this is highway robbery.

You've obviously never been robbed on a highway, I can see...

 

[queequeg99]

What is the alternative. The news story on NPR this morning mentioned how all the movie rental stores are closing down. The closest Block Buster near me closed down within the last 6 months.

The alternative is redbox. Not as good a selection as Netflix. But seriously, streaming simply isn't an option for me given that I'll never be able to sign up for more than 1.5mbps service at my house. I've got a 120 inch screen that I project BDs on. Watching Netflix streams is painful. I would rather watch a troop of monkeys fling poo on my screen.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

They're doing this because they want to shift the grand majority of content to streaming. It's cheaper. With this move, it assures that most people drop the DVD/Blu-Ray rentals and they're promising to make up for it with newer/better streaming content.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

The alternative is redbox. Not as good a selection as Netflix. But seriously, streaming simply isn't an option for me given that I'll never be able to sign up for more than 1.5mbps service at my house. I've got a 120 inch screen that I project BDs on. Watching Netflix streams is painful. I would rather watch a troop of monkeys fling poo on my screen.

They're catering to the majority of the market. The average internet connection in the US is 4-5Mbps, which is enough for streaming 720p with little to no problems.

 

[jlee]

They're doing this because they want to shift the grand majority of content to streaming. It's cheaper. With this move, it assures that most people drop the DVD/Blu-Ray rentals and they're promising to make up for it with newer/better streaming content.

I hope they do improve the streaming selection - but even more so, I hope they finally offer surround sound for PC/360.

 

[frowertr]

Is there really any content worth paying $7 a month to stream anyway? And if so, its quality is lacking. I don't know about you guys but I'm not paying Netflix extra for overcompressed crap. I purchased my 1080p Plasma and my HD Audio receiver for a reason and that reason was to not watch anything other than true HD quality programming on BD's or OTA HD.

If I want netflix's compressed garbage I'll watch cable...

 

[queequeg99]

They're catering to the majority of the market. The average internet connection in the US is 4-5Mbps, which is enough for streaming 720p with little to no problems.

It really depends on how the usage is spread out (assuming your statistics are correct). For example, if you have 100 customers who get 1.5mbps service and 25 who get 15mbps service, you end up with an average connection speed of 4.2mbps. Unless the 100 slower speed customers are willing to accept crappy resolution or pay more for a faster connection to get Netflix at decent resolution (if a faster speed is even available), many of them will be lost as customers to any streaming-only service. And even if I could get 5mpbs service, downgrading to 720p resolution and reduced audio fidelity isn't really my idea of a customer service breakthrough.

My example above is a very quick back-of-the-envelope simplification and I suspect the bean counters at Netflix have a conducted a much more informed analysis of this issue and have determined that streaming is their best way of maximizing profit. But many customers will be lost and someone will meet their demand (if not an expanded version of redbox, some other option will arise). It may very well be that the only way the demands of someone like myself will be met is by going back to purchasing BDs because I'm slowly resigning myself to the reality of living in a market in which convenience is valued much more than audio/video quality. People have few qualms about listening to 128kbps MP3 files over CDs or viewing movies on a 3 inch LCD smartphone screen.

 

[brotj7]

I spoke to the wife. We will keep the bluray for high def movies and just do without the streaming. We are in a small city with a crappy redbox selection, we have already watched the few series we want to watch on streaming, and we get decreased resolution/ buffering multiple times on any movie we watch over a 1/2 hour on Time Warner Cable(suuuure they are not throtteling...) TV is just not working out for us.

We have a $50/month 15/1 line and for $1 more we also get the basic 24 cable channels. It's plenty for xbox 360, ps3, and PC gaming the few times we turn them on. I guess this is one more push to get outside, and do more projects around the house.

 

[Sheep]

Personally I'm miffed with the studios who are behind the price increases. They seem intent on repeating the music industry's mistakes and fucking themselves over.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

It really depends on how the usage is spread out (assuming your statistics are correct). For example, if you have 100 customers who get 1.5mbps service and 25 who get 15mbps service, you end up with an average connection speed of 4.2mbps. Unless the 100 slower speed customers are willing to accept crappy resolution or pay more for a faster connection to get Netflix at decent resolution (if a faster speed is even available), many of them will be lost as customers to any streaming-only service. And even if I could get 5mpbs service, downgrading to 720p resolution and reduced audio fidelity isn't really my idea of a customer service breakthrough.

My example above is a very quick back-of-the-envelope simplification and I suspect the bean counters at Netflix have a conducted a much more informed analysis of this issue and have determined that streaming is their best way of maximizing profit. But many customers will be lost and someone will meet their demand (if not an expanded version of redbox, some other option will arise). It may very well be that the only way the demands of someone like myself will be met is by going back to purchasing BDs because I'm slowly resigning myself to the reality of living in a market in which convenience is valued much more than audio/video quality. People have few qualms about listening to 128kbps MP3 files over CDs or viewing movies on a 3 inch LCD smartphone screen.

Well, the statistics say that streaming is quickly taking over the market. A lot less people are using DVDs/Blu-Rays, and Netflix decided to take advantage of that because it costs less and raising the price by $1 while eliminating the DVD bundle will allow them to have more and better quality content.

25Mbps+ connections are faster than what 95% of the US has. They're nowhere near mainstream. Most connections in the US are 4-5Mbps, again. 1.5-2Mbps connections are only used by people who live in relatively secluded areas or where no major ISPs are available.

 

[Emulex]

nope gave me a reason to cancel the service completely

 

[Anubis]

 

[velillen]

Meh doesnt really effect me i suppose. Our 3 disc out/streaming plan was like 20 bucks already. now for the same "plan" its like 23 bucks. Though we are dropping the streaming portion. Parents dont use streaming and ive never been impressed by the selection. every movie i think of to watch and try to find streaming it isnt available. let alone most arent in HD (i use my ps3. So we actually save money now as the plan we are going to is cheaper....

As for the price increase....expected it all along tbh. There is pretty much nothing to compete with netflix at the moment. Redbox is ok but still meh and requires going out to get the movies. Other services just arent up to par or to expensive (amazon vod, sony's vod, ect)

 

[SBCT]

I'm not all that excited about them doubling the price of my subscription. I will either drop down to just streaming or just dvd's or cancel completely. I will decide on August 31st.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Personally I'm miffed with the studios who are behind the price increases. They seem intent on repeating the music industry's mistakes and fucking themselves over.

Exactly. I'm happy with Netflix' service and I understand they can't continue to offer streaming at a loss and stay in business.

They are giving you a choice:
- pay for streaming if you use it enough.
- pay for DVDs/blu-rays if you watch them enough.
- pay for both if you use them both enough.

That's much better than Comcast where I was paying $60/month to watch 3-4 shows.

 

[s44]

I'm dropping streaming. Never hit Blu-Ray quality for serious viewing, and the last few TV series I've tried to catch up on weren't on the stream anyway.