Netflix just raised their prices again... there goes my budget!

[HsvTeacher]

My DH just told me about this. I'm in the middle of a series right now that they only have on disc, but as soon as I finish it, we're canceling our subscription. Lately, we haven't been using either service enough to justify the price increase.

Oh well, a little more money in our pockets each month...

 

[Judyat]

We are very happy with Netfliks. They are certainly cheaper than going to the movies. We get a movie one day and put it in the mail by 5pm. They get it the next day and send us our next movie which arrives the next day. It's fast and easy and well worth what they charge.

 

[RitaE]

I'm going to have to think about it. Most of Netflix streaming is duplicated for us thru Amazon with our Amazon Prime and we use Amazon Prime extensively for the free two day shipping. I've considered dropping Netflix a few times anyway because I'm not sure we need both.

And yeah, if somebody is dying for a movie rental there's always Redbox. I think it just might be time to pay as we go rather than committing to a plan. It's not like they won't take us back if we change our minds later.

 

[DawnM]

I still think it is a great deal and plan to keep my plan, which will go from $14.99 to $19.99 after September.

It is way cheaper than Directv costs!

 

[cglaura]

Mine went up from $10.98 to $15.98, so around $6.50 more after tax.

Still less than cable. When it starts to get close to the amount Comcast charges, I might cancel. The least expensive Comcast we can get (besides basic) is $35, and that is with limited OnDemand. The full deal is over $65.

I am, completely annoyed with the new layout for choosing streaming on the website. It is crazy slow and the sorting options are cumbersome to use at best.

 

[maggiew]

Sounds like a ripoff to me. I guess we will cancel our DVD by mail part at a minimum. We often only get 2 movies a month by mail - it's not worth $8. We'll use Redbox.

Their blog post on Netflix is ridiculous though. It sounds like Disney-speak, in fact. Like Disney takes things away "to improve the guest experience ..." and "in response to guest feedback"! Yeah, right.

This is us. We have the one movie at a time plan with streaming. I watch a movie streaming almost every night before bed. But I only get maybe 4 DVD movies a month. I figure if I get less than 8 DVD movies a month, I am better off using Redbox. (Although I will have to be better about returning them within the 1 day!)

So I guess I am going to opt for the streaming only version.

Maggie

 

[Truelovernr1122]

I get where you're coming from. I read the article, but I can also see that they are expanding to 43 more countries. Take the subscription prices right now, without jacking them up and multiply that by 43 - they will have more than enough to pay their billion dollar bill to the studios without jacking up our costs.

I feel like they cut out all the competitors so they could charge whatever they want because there are little to few other options for us movie lovers

It's not that they are getting greedy, it is that they have no choice but to raise prices if they want to keep the titles available at all. If you read the article that I linked, you'll find that it is because the movie studios have MASSIVELY raised the licensing fees that Netflix has to pay them, and in some cases the studio is capping the number of times that a catalogue can be accessed via streaming. Last year Netflix paid $180 million for their streaming rights; the prediction is that 2012 is going to cost them $1.98 billion.

It was great while it lasted, but now that the initial contracts that they set up when the company was founded are beginning to expire, the major studios want a piece of the profit, and they are in a position to see that they get it. If they don't, Netflix will die very quickly, because if they don't pay up, all they will be offering is old TV shows and independent films.

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

Right now I am one DVD at a time and streaming. As soon as I am caught up on Modern Family season 1 I am dropping the DVD's!

 

[DawnM]

There is no way you can multiply the amount of users in the US by 43. The US will still be their largest user group, possibly by a large margin.

Dawn

I get where you're coming from. I read the article, but I can also see that they are expanding to 43 more countries. Take the subscription prices right now, without jacking them up and multiply that by 43 - they will have more than enough to pay their billion dollar bill to the studios without jacking up our costs.

I feel like they cut out all the competitors so they could charge whatever they want because there are little to few other options for us movie lovers

 

[Green Tea]

It's only a $6 a month change. That really should't break a budget. I hate price increases too, but if $6 a month was going to break me, I wouldn't have internet in my house to be worried about streaming movies.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Adios netflix. We watch a little of both. A little streaming and the one DVD plan. But we're heavy users of neither. I refuse to pay double per month for the little we use. Add to that there's very little being made these days I want to see at all and it's adios netflix. If there's just something I have to see I'll buy it on sale and then sell it back to secondspin or someplace.

I agree. There are movies not available to stream so we need to order the DVD and vice versa, but we don't use a lot of either method. I'm dropping them.

 

[NotUrsula]

There is no way you can multiply the amount of users in the US by 43. The US will still be their largest user group, possibly by a large margin.

Dawn

Also, most of the overseas customers will NOT be streaming, because data plans are mostly capped in other countries, often at very low limits that still come with high prices.

IMO, the days of widespread legally streaming free without a monthly TV bill are going to coming to an end soon. With the shift to HD and the encroachment of data plan caps, pretty soon it will be the case that a streaming habit will cost you just as much as cable or satellite, if not more, because of the overage charges you'll end up paying to your internet provider.

 

[Muushka]

We enjoyed the DVDs while we had them. Hello Redbox. We will still stream.

OT Anyone catch The Kennedys on streaming? What a great series.

 

[mindyd]

We are going to cancel I do not use it enough to justify more money.

 

[jenny105]

Looks like current members have until September 1 to decide. I'll probably drop the DVDs. I use the streaming option a lot more and the newer DVDs are usually released to stream anyway.

 

[sk!mom]

I agree. There are movies not available to stream so we need to order the DVD and vice versa, but we don't use a lot of either method. I'm dropping them.

This is pretty much our use, as well. We also use it a lot more in the Summer. Since the change comes after school starts, I think we'll probably drop the instant streaming and just continue with one DVD out at a time. The instant streaming was a nice perk but not worth $7.99 a month. There's just not a lot available that we want to see. During the school year we do well to find tme for one DVD a week. If we miss the instant streaming we can always add it back.

ETA- On second thought, I might keep streaming, cancel the DVD service, and switch to Redbox for those times that we want a DVD. I drive past a Redbox everyday but since I have Netflix I've never used it.

 

[RitaE]

It's only a $6 a month change. That really should't break a budget. I hate price increases too, but if $6 a month was going to break me, I wouldn't have internet in my house to be worried about streaming movies.

I don't think people are saying $6 a month is going to bankrupt our family budgets. Hell, if that's the yardstick maybe they should just increase it by hundreds of dollars... because I could probably pay that without going bankrupt too.

It's just enough of an increase to push me to cancel a service that I'm not sure is even worth what we're paying now ... for us. YMMV.

 

[Green Tea]

I don't think people are saying $6 a month is going to bankrupt our family budgets.

Netflix just raised their prices again...there goes my budget!:

The OP did say $6 would break the budget. ....if that amount hurts a family's finances, then things like high speed internet probably out to be looked at as well.

 

[MagiKitty]

I agree...I don't think it is a literal budget buster, but the issue is that you'll either pay double for what you have now, or continue to pay for a service that is only half of what you're getting now. Or perhaps, it is a literal entertainment budget buster...regardless, it is an increase in expenses that was unaccounted for before and now must be considered.

I can understand an increase in costs, but to literally double a monthly fee (for me) isn't worth it.

 

[Judyat]

I agree. If $6 a month is going to break your budget than you probably can't really afford the internet or cable.