Netflix is hiking the prices of its Standard and Premium plans in the United States, pushing its most expensive tariff to an eye-watering $17.99 month.
Following a similar hike in Canada, the streaming giant has added a dollar to the price, making its Standard plan $13.99 and pushing the Premium plan – which offers 4K ultra HD content – to $17.99. The Basic plan, which offers streaming on one screen at a time and standard definition visuals remains at $7.99 a month.
The changes come into effect today for new subscribers, while existing members will see the change over the next couple of months. The company will notify customers 30 days before the price increase affects them.
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Netflix last raised its prices in the US in January 2019, so it has been almost two years since the company last upped the fee on its customers. However, given the economic climate and the competition for the streaming dollar, Netflix is taking a chance here – even with a $1 increase.
A week ago, during its quarterly earnings report, Netflix announced it had added 2.2 million subscribers compared to the expected 3.57 million. The firm received a massive boost during the first half of the year as the public turned to the streaming services when instructed to stay at home for months on end.
As per a CNBC report, the company hinted at the price hike during the call, with COO Greg Peters admitting: “there is that opportunity to occasionally go back and then ask for members, where we’ve delivered that extra value in those countries, to pay a little bit more.”
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Whether the UK will be next for a price increase remains to be seen. The company last pushed its UK prices in March 2019, which saw the Premium plan bumped up to £11.99. Let’s hope the streaming giant holds off for a while.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.