Netflix Raises DVD Plan Prices & Launches $7.99 Per Month U.S. Streaming-Only Plan
This has been the worst kept secret for a while, as Netflix officially unveils their $7.99 streaming-only plan. Netflix has an awesome collection of pretty good quality streaming shows and movies, and their CEO has confirmed on several occasions that streaming is definitely the way they are looking for the future. What I didn’t see coming was the increase in price for those who still want a disc. Still reasonable, but something to note as they may just price their customers into using the streaming more. I wonder how people who just want rentals and don’t want to stream feel?
Why the changes? Our selection of TV episodes and movies available to stream has grown dramatically, and as a result most members want us to deliver unlimited TV episodes and movies two ways: streaming instantly over the internet plus DVDs by mail. The price increase will allow us to continue to offer the popular plan choice of unlimited TV episodes and movies streaming instantly along with unlimited DVDs. The new plan, which does not include DVDs, is a great option for the increasing number of members who only want to watch instantly. The $7.99 a month price reflects no DVD shipping costs on this plan.
Seems like they are going to
Seems like they are going to start pushing for more streaming vs. snail mailing dvd’s/BRD. And use the extra money to increase the streaming collection?
Streaming Content
With the improvements in streaming selection and PQ, I have to wonder if this is counter productive. I think many Netflix users will simply drop back a plan.
babgvant wrote:
With the
[quote=babgvant]
With the improvements in streaming selection and PQ, I have to wonder if this is counter productive. I think many Netflix users will simply drop back a plan.
[/quote]
Oddly enough I have dropped back a plan (from 3 to 2) and even now I’m thinking about even dropping to a 1 at a time plan
babgvant wrote: With the
[quote=babgvant]
With the improvements in streaming selection and PQ, I have to wonder if this is counter productive. I think many Netflix users will simply drop back a plan.
[/quote]
I think that’s their plan. Eschewing the physical discs at this price point means a lot more money for NetFlix.
Or do you mean drop to the $5/month plan instead of streaming only plan?
As much as I want to, I can’t
As much as I want to, I can’t give up the superior picture/audio of Blu. I look forward to the day when I can get that quality via streaming.
We’ll be waiting a long time
We’ll be waiting a long time for that in the US.
Hogues wrote:
As much as I
[quote=Hogues]
As much as I want to, I can’t give up the superior picture/audio of Blu. I look forward to the day when I can get that quality via streaming.
[/quote]
Completely agree for myself, but for most of the stuff my kids like to watch there isn’t much difference in PQ b/w a DVD and streaming.
I dropped from the 3 at a
I dropped from the 3 at a time to 2 at a time plan years ago (I’ve been a member since 2001 though). I don’t really have a problem with this price increase, it’s only a dollar. However, almost all I do is stream these days. I probably should have considered dropping my plan down another notch to 1 at a time ages ago (considering the 2 disks I have at home right now have been here since August). Maybe this is just enough push to get me to do it. As others have stated, I wouldn’t want to go streaming only though… I like the quality of disks too much.
jennyfur wrote:
I dropped
[quote=jennyfur]
I dropped from the 3 at a time to 2 at a time plan years ago (I’ve been a member since 2001 though). I don’t really have a problem with this price increase, it’s only a dollar. However, almost all I do is stream these days. I probably should have considered dropping my plan down another notch to 1 at a time ages ago (considering the 2 disks I have at home right now have been here since August). Maybe this is just enough push to get me to do it. As others have stated, I wouldn’t want to go streaming only though… I like the quality of disks too much.
[/quote]
I’m in the same boat. I’ve bounced back and forth between NetFlix and Blockbuster Online and back to NetFlix again. I changed from 3 at a time to 2 at a time and now I’m thinking about dropping it back to one disc at a time. I prefer Blu-Ray over any other available format. Streaming is convenient but it doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy as far as picture and sound quality is concerned. I just tried RedBox a couple of weeks ago and I’m leaning towards using them for all new releases and keeping NetFlix for acquiring more obscure titles and foreign films.
swoon wrote:
I think that’s
[quote=swoon]
I think that’s their plan. Eschewing the physical discs at this price point means a lot more money for NetFlix.
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Longer term I agree, but for now I would think that the margin on higher priced plans is higher – unless those w/ those plans also tend to watch more.
[quote=swoon]
Or do you mean drop to the $5/month plan instead of streaming only plan?
[/quote]
I dropped back from the 3 BD at a time to 2 today.
I’ve been on the 1 DVD out at
I’ve been on the 1 DVD out at a time for a couple years now. If there is a title I really want or if I want a couple movies for the weekend I hit up redbox. IT is nice that you can find your titles online there and have them reserved.