Netflix announces streaming only plan, price hikes for existing offerings

By on Nov 22, 2010 at 9:34 AM
Services November 22, 2010

What was once rumored is now a reality. Netflix has announced that beginning today the company will offer a new, streaming-only service option for $7.99 per month. The plan, which does not include any by-mail DVD rentals, allows users to stream available titles to their televisions, mobile devices, and computer screens. “Creating the best user experience that we can around watching instantly is how we’re spending the vast majority of our time and resources,” reads the press release.

The second, and less attractive bit of this story, is that the company also plans to increase monthly plan prices by anywhere from $1 to $8. Netflix did not offer any explanation for the increases, but did note that the price of its two most popular plans — one DVD and 2 DVDs — will only rise by $1. Hit the bounce to see how your Netflix plan will be affected.

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  • me

    Guess it’s time to now cancel my long-standing account with Netflix for going greedy and not grandfathering in old accounts to stay with their price point!

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MZYKPLR5E4HKI4U4KZMCDU5QIY Robert

      Ditto here. I can’t justify the price increase. I’d bet they end up losing money because of this.

  • Anonymous

    Yawn

  • Netflixripoff

    There is not enough content available for streaming to justify a price increase. I think I can live without NetFlix anymore.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/William-Diaz/100000639956723 William Diaz

      yeah, 1-DVD Unlimited and Streaming now (with Bluray access) is costing me MORE to have NetFlix then HBO (free for 6 months) at my house. I wonder if I leave, if Ill get a retention offer from NetFlix.

      I guess its time to check out BlockBuster down the street again.

      • http://twitter.com/kaplogic Sara Kaplow

        Better check out the BlockBuster fast, before it’s gone…

  • Anonymous

    I’ve been a Netflix subscriber since the days their instant streaming used WMV-DRM instead of the current Silverlight/H.264 combo and only worked on Windows boxes and lappies in IE.

    Though the $1-$8 price increase is disappointing, I’ll simply switch my Netflix subscription to streaming only, since I use streaming more than physical media. Easy enough.

  • http://twitter.com/RIDave Dave Favicchio

    If the catalog of streaming titles was larger I’d be happy to pay $9.99 for a no disc unlimited streaming package. But this new pricing plan is a bummer.

  • Petas

    This is lame, im already paying the blu ray premium. Time to look for other outlets.

  • http://twitter.com/thelanai ME and ME

    bye bye, netflix.

  • Bob

    They’re trying to force the streaming only option. They’ve never wanted to be in the delivery business, they’ve said that many times.

    • Anonymous

      All well and good but they do not have the selection for streaming that they do via disk. Talk is cheap, make the deals and people will go streaming only, until then this is just a charge hike without added features or content.

  • http://twitter.com/stalkbrandon Brandon V. Fletcher

    Im amazed to see people get angry and threaten to leave netflix over a $1 increase. I currently have a 2 Blu Ray plan. $18.99 a month. $1 wont kill. Yea it sucks but its not like its a $5 increase.

    • me

      It’s not just “$1″. It’s $3 for my plan which I’ve had for a very long time and up to $8 for some of the other plans. And even if it was, why should we allow it. After all the market is supposedly driven by the consumer.

      • Anonymous

        I’m with you, so i will drop from 3 disks to 2 now. Turnaround for me is 2-3 days so I should have done it already anyways, nothing like a price increase spur buying less.

      • http://twitter.com/stalkbrandon Brandon V. Fletcher

        Also it seems the streaming library is steadily growing. Im amazed at the amount of movies and tv shows streaming now. Half my queue is now streaming. Granted i do have like 40 movies in there

      • http://twitter.com/stalkbrandon Brandon V. Fletcher

        And it seems that consumers want a streaming only option.

      • me

        Yes people DO want streaming… but no-one is asking for price increases for what they currently receive.
        Nothing is changing in what they offer the “older” customers they already had… other than cost going up more than 17% for the 3 disk plan.

        If you want to be the one to support the greed, then go for it. “These deals preserve what is called the pay television window, which opens up about a year after a film is first released in theaters and gives HBO, Showtime or Starz about 18 months of screening (and, more recently, Web streaming) time.” So, explain what you are gaining as a current user that doesn’t rely on streaming anything, since it’s not “new stuff”.

        I’m all for them advancing their services being offered — by adding streaming only. But, they did not need to screw all their thousands of customers that currently have service and stream nothing at all, since it’s all older stuff (and that’s according to their own data, nothing newer than 1yr out)

  • Chad

    I’m OK with this if they actually offer all (or most) of their catalog as streaming. With the limited content for streaming, I’m ready to bail and switch to getting movies via Redbox. I refused to pay the extra Blu-ray fee. I tend to sit on movies for months. I’ve been thinking of cancelling Netflix altogether anyway, This may just be the final nail in the coffin for me.

  • Anonymous

    I would switch to streaming only if it included all of the titles. Has anyone actually switched and verified that all of the titles are not there?

  • R.

    Title availability still sucks. This may change soon but, for now, stick with the DVD/stream option.

  • Lazaro

    That sucks. I just signed up two weeks ago under the $8.99 plan and I am still on my first free month. They should definitely grandfather people’s price points.

  • Anonymous

    If they are going to give streaming only they def need to step up the availablity of certain shows. Zune allows people to watch shows that just aired..step it up Netflix!!!

  • Anonymous

    Just took a look at my account. When I clicked on change plan it told me that my plan was no longer offered that if I changed my plan I would not be able to come back to my current plan. I imagine that means the rate increase is for new subscribers and current customers stay at their current rates.
    My bill is still listed at my previous price point.

    • De-soapboxer

      from a limited selection of offerings made available to you through Netflix. Get off your high horse.

      • Anonymous

        Self-deprecating seems to be a no-no with you. Nothing to see here, move along.

        My Instant Queue is currently 365 titles strong. All programing that I WANT to watch. Not one “reality tv” title in the bunch. I can’t believe idiots watch that crap.

        And when is saving forty dollars a month on crap I didn’t watch, coming off as being on a high horse?

  • Rob

    NO GRANDFATHERING in of current prices for existing customers either according to membership terms & details: “The price of your 1 DVD out at-a-time (Unlimited) plan will change to $9.99 (plus any applicable tax) a month starting with your next billing period.”

  • Devin

    Really? Everyone is going to complain over a couple bucks? Even the $1? That’s only 12 bucks a year.

  • Mark B

    I don’t think it’s that big a deal… It’s a prompt for me to drop from three DVDs to two, save a buck month, and I won’t miss it because of the streaming. But everyone’s habits are different of course…

  • Rudydeep

    just got an email this morning from $20.99 to $23.99 what the hell

  • KB

    Definitely considering going back to Blockbuster. No Blu-ray premium, 5 in-store exchanges and it’s the same price. I VERY rarely use the streaming option so that’s no big deal to me.

  • http://bit.ly/samirsshah समीर शाह

    Good idea. It costs Netflix more to service the DVD option, so the DVD plan should cost more. Streaming costs less to Netflix and the software selection is lesser so it should cost less. For the people who decry the increase in the DVD plan price, the new DVD plan price increase is a gentle nudge in the streaming only direction.

  • Stephen

    yea the future

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