Netflix to raise prices

[Smokey]

Netflix is preparing to raise its prices for the first time in three years to help pay for more Internet video programming such as its popular political drama "House of Cards."

The increase, to take place sometime before July, will hike prices by $1 or $2 per month for new customers. The Los Gatos, Calif. company says current U.S. subscribers will continue to pay $8 per month for a "generous time period."

The move announced Monday as part of Netflix's first-quarter earnings report illustrates the financial pressures mounting on the company as its spends more money to license compelling content. The efforts are aimed at warding off competitive threats from Amazon and Hulu.

The company added another 2.25 million Internet video subscribers during the first quarter to end March with 35.7 million U.S. customers. That's up nearly 50 percent from 23.9 million U.S. subscribers in July 2012 while the company was still trying to sooth customers irked by the last price increase.

The company attracted another 1.75 million subscribers in Canada and overseas, leaving it with 12.7 million international customers.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said the company needs to charge higher prices so the Internet video service can afford to bid against its rivals for programming —and reach its long-term goal of 60 million to 90 million U.S. subscribers.

Netflix poised to raise prices after strong 1Q: Associated Press Business News - MSN Money

[Worf101]

Yeah... I heard. Streaming is a wonderfull thing. I didn't think I'd take to it, I resisted as long as I could... now I watch it like once a day. Amazing. But it's cheap at twice the price.

Worf

[Feanor]

Netflix hasn't announced a price increase for Canadian subscribers -- no doubt it will get around to it soon enough.

Canadians don't get as good a selection as US subscribers, unfortunately, but Netflix is still a relative entertainment bargain. The other beef I have with Netflix speed; especially in the evenings or on holidays, streams can be interrupted while buffers are filled and/or resolution can drop to pretty fuzzy levels -- I think this is a Netflix problem though I know my ISP, Rogers.com, "throttles" to some degree.

[ForeverAutumn]

Feanor, I'm on Bell and I've never had a streaming problem on Netflix.

I'm glad that there is no price increase in Canada yet, that we know of. I just had to increase my internet service because I was getting uncomfortably close to my usage limit each month, as we're starting to watch more on Netflix and less on regular TV.

[winston]

well as you all, might have feel the wind of this news by now "Amazon announced just this Wednesday/Thursday that it had entered a multi-year deal/contract with (HBO) to be the sole streaming provider of its content. the article mentioned that this will be for Amazon Prime users only, however prime users reportedly won't have access to episodes of current seasons so don't go looking for Game of Thrones after cutting the cable, BTW if your a Prime guy that wasn't too happy with the $20 Prime increase then the HBO bonus will soften it up a bit...

that said, I love my Netflix, they're the best streaming value to date, and I can subscribed month to month on/off as often as I like, 'so I'm not planning on leaving "lets see what the raise brings to my Roku stick

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Yeah... I heard. Streaming is a wonderfull thing. I didn't think I'd take to it, I resisted as long as I could... now I watch it like once a day. Amazing. But it's cheap at twice the price.

Worf

I agree with your last sentence big time. I didn't think I would take to it like I have. But there is nothing like a good cup of coffee, and a netflix documentary to start the morning off. While I still prefer to buy my movies on Bluray, their documentaries are mostly excellent, well informative, and really stimulate an open mind no matter what the topic is.

[ForeverAutumn]

I received this email from Netflix today. Looks like Canadian prices will be held for existing clients for two year.

In order to continue adding more movies and TV shows, we are increasing our price from $7.99 to $8.99 for new members.

As a thank you for being a member of Netflix already, we guarantee your plan and price (excluding tax) will not change for two years.

[Feanor]

I received this email from Netflix today. Looks like Canadian prices will be held for existing clients for two year.

A good thing as far as it goes. I still get a crappy Netflix stream in the evenings and especially weekend evenings. Could be Rogers Cable, Netflix, or my local device which is a Sony Blu-ray player. I tend to blame Netflix because the stream quality seems to vary a bit with the particular show I'm watching.

Also, Netflix selection -- for Canadians -- is pretty rather limited. Recently I've enjoyed House of Cards, Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey, and Dexter.

BTW, F.A., vis a vis Rogers versus Bell, the former is the only high-speed ISP in my area. Due to old infrastructure, Bell is still limited to about 8 Mbps in my area, (and that's down hill with a tail wind). I get pretty good speed from Rogers ...

[ForeverAutumn]

Your speeds appear to be much faster than mine and I still have no issues. In fact, seeing how poor my speeds are, I'll be calling Bell when I have time to ask them what the deal is. The cost of my internet services is going up on June 1 (I think). I'll be lodging a big fat complaint about that given my poor results on this test.

[Feanor]

Your speeds appear to be much faster than mine and I still have no issues. In fact, seeing how poor my speeds are, I'll be calling Bell when I have time to ask them what the deal is. The cost of my internet services is going up on June 1 (I think). I'll be lodging a big fat complaint about that given my poor results on this test.

Netflix measures that it calls "link speed" which is mainly dependant on your internet download speed; if the link speed is slow, it will send you a reduced resolution picture.

The stalls I experience are possibly because Netflix computes a higher link speed than it can reliably sustain. The question is, is there something causing variations is my link speed? Beats me.

In my experience in London, DSL rarely deliver advertised speeds on a regular basis; cable actually achieves advertized speed -- at least in my neck of the woods. Bell offers very high speed "fibre" connections but not in London: maybe you can get it where you are.

[JoeE SP9]

I'm getting 39.75Mbps according to Ookla.

I recently upgraded to a FIOS connection and I'm quite happy with it.

I also received an email from Netflix promising to keep my rate the same for two years.

[ForeverAutumn]

In my experience in London, DSL rarely deliver advertised speeds on a regular basis; cable actually achieves advertized speed -- at least in my neck of the woods. Bell offers very high speed "fibre" connections but not in London: maybe you can get it where you are.

I can get Fibe here, but it's more expensive and I just don't want to pay more than I already am for internet. My numbers may look low, but I experience very little buffering on my computer and I use it to stream all sorts of stuff, including sports. I'm actually quite happy with my service. But I'm still going to call Bell to complain...see if I can get them to lower my price.

[Feanor]

I can get Fibe here, but it's more expensive and I just don't want to pay more than I already am for internet. My numbers may look low, but I experience very little buffering on my computer and I use it to stream all sorts of stuff, including sports. I'm actually quite happy with my service. But I'm still going to call Bell to complain...see if I can get them to lower my price.

Go for it! Bell and Rogers are two organizations I love to hate. They don't really compete with each other except by advertising, i.e. similar no-so-great products, similar no-so-great service, similar extortionist pricing, and similar relentless advertising and promotions.

I'm paying Rogers over $100/mo. for 28 Mbps and unlimited download. I consider this a gouge. My previous provider, Techsavvy, that provided ostensibly similar service for about $60/mo., but relied on Rogers infrastructure; if there was a problem, (and I had several problems), they usually had to get Rogers to fix it. It typically took 3-5 days for Rogers to get around to it during which I had no Internet. As a Rogers subscriber the work is usually done in a day or so.

We are three heavy Internet users in our house and do a lot streaming and downloads: we need a fairly high level of service. If you can get by with a lower, less expensive service, I'm definitely envious.

I also pay Bell $95/mo. for satellite TV service that includes a fair number of HD channels, a HD PVR and two standard def boxes. Of two services, Internet vs. TV, I'm even more resentful of the latter than the former. The CRTC is likely to require changes to pricing models in the near future, but I'm skeptical that I'll save much money.

[ForeverAutumn]

Thanks for the feedback on Techsavvy. I've considered switching to them, but I know that eventually I'll end up on Fibe, so I don't really want to go through the trouble of switching and switching back in a couple of years.

If you call Bell and ask them if there is way to lower your fees, they might be able to do something. Last year I called them because my husband was unemployed and we needed to cut expenses. They were able to knock about $18/mth off our bill, for 12 months, without changing any services.

When the 12 months were up I called them back and this year they knocked over $20 a month off my bill (TV, phone and internet). They do run promotions for current customers, but they don't advertise them. You need to speak to the Loyalty Dept. and ask. Roger may do the same if you ask.

We have really hijacked this thread. Sorry everyone!

[ForeverAutumn]

To continue our off-topic conversation...

Feanor, I thought you would find this article interesting....

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/blogs/d...185150043.html