The popular streaming video company has announced on Monday that they are planning to increase their subscription prices for new customers. In the next few months the prices will go up with one or two dollars monthly. Netflix said that their existing subscribers will continue to enjoy the services at the current rate for “a generous time period.”
The current subscribers pay %7.99 a month for a plan introduced in 2010. Netflix has increased the monthly fees for Irish new subscribers by one euro in January and said that the change didn’t have a serious impact.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that Netflix prices will go up as a result of their continuous expansion: “If we want to continue to expand, to do more great original content… we have to eventually increase prices a little bit.” Netflix added 2.25 million new subscribers this year and now has 36 million American subscribers and over 48 million around the world.
The popular TV shows “House of Cards” and “Orange is the New Black” are two of their original programming that are currently being watched by millions of subscribers. The second season of “House of Cards” debuted in February while season 2 of “Orange is the New Black” will be coming on June 6.
The online video business is becoming very competitive and there are many streaming services with which Netflix competes: HBO Go, Hulu and Amazon Prime Instant Video. When asked about this fact Hastings said that he is a Prime subscriber and that he sees it as being “complementary to Netflix.” Analysts are predicting a major change when it comes to Netflix’s subscription prices and not only for new subscribers.
Netflix Prices Will Go Up – only for new subscribers for the time being
More updates are expected on this announcement as current Netflix subscribers fear that the prices will increase for everyone. As soon as we find out anything new about this we will keep you posted. What are your thoughts on the fact that Netflix prices will go up? Are you currently a subscriber or do you plan to become one in the near future? Do you think that this increase is a fair one and reflects the quality of the services or is it just a marketing strategy? Would you rather use other video streaming services like HBO Go, Hulu or Amazon Prime Instant Video? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
