Ruh roh. In a move that will undoubtedly cause an incredibly raucous stir, only to fade away as movie renters realize that
Netflix is still the best deal going, America's most adored by-mail rental service is hiking the price of Blu-ray rentals once again. If you'll
recall, Netflix already implemented a
$1 per month fee for Blu-ray customers
back in October, and now it's looking to push that premium higher by around 20 percent across its pricing tiers. The company asserts that the increase (slated to hit April 27th and only applicable to BD customers) is due to it buying more titles on BD to "accommodate the increasing number of Netflix members who prefer renting movies on Blu-ray." In fact, nearly 10 percent of all Netflix customers are choosing BD now, and obviously these platters cost quite a bit more for anyone (even Netflix) to procure. Head past the break to see how big of a hardship this will be on you.
Thanks to Lee for the email image.
posted Mar 30th 2009 2:00PM
Amazing, LoveFilm (the UK equivalent) don't charge ANYTHING extra for Blu-Ray. Nae luck America!
Somehow, I doubt they compare.
why do you say that? they use the exact same model, although admittedly there isn't the xbox/netflix integration taht you can enjoy in USA.
Perhaps they overcharge for standard DVD rentals?
On lovefilm i pay £4.99 a month for unlimted dvds (or blu ray, but dont have a bluray player) but only have one at a time. Not so expensive, maybe cheaper than Netflix.
I just looked at the LoveFilm website. Looks like they hired whoever does all of the most low budget torrent webpages to design it for them. That was my first indication that it might not be on the same level as Netflix.
LoveFilm rates are higher:
1 DVD at a time (9.78 Pounds or $14.00) is $3.01 more with blu-ray premium included
2 DVD's at a time (12.72 or $18.21) is $1.22 more with blu-ray premium included
3 DVD's at a time (15.65 or $22.41) is $1.42 more with blu-ray premium included
No higher palns listed that I could find.
I'm not sure how that compares vis-a-vis retail price differences, but it appears the blu-ray premium is built into the price already.
Pah you and your pesky evidence. This is treasure island - everything costs more. Besides, your forgetting to include sales tax which isn't included in the US prices, but is in the UK ones (at whopping 15%, so it seems the LoveFilm do charge less, but the tax man charges more).
Like I said: Nae luck British.
BDA overcharging for Blu-Ray CONFIRMED!
The British Dental Association? Get Lemming on the case!
Nah, Mr. Bean.
F*ck NetFlix. How do I go from $1 to $3? That's a pretty steep jump. I'm going to kick it down to 1 at a time... if everyone kicks their plan down a notch it will be a symbolic kick to the balls.
I pay $1 a month now for BD... the chart says now I will be paying $4? That's a lot more than a 20% increase!
Yeah... and I'm going from $1 to $3 on my 2-at-a-time plan. That appears to be a 200% increase.
Looks like I'm stepping down to one at a time!
My thoughts exactly... Going from $1 to $4 is NOT how I define a 20% increase!!
Your math is a little off.
Right now it is $16.99 + $1 for Blu-ray and I know cause I got the same package. Adding $3 to the $18 fee is 20%...
But your total rate to rent will increase by around 20% if you choose rent blurays--ex. $9 to $11.
There are obviously two ways to look at the math. I'm choosing the way that justifies the most outrage. :)
23.5% of $16.99 is $4. Netflix is saying they're charging a (roughly) 20% premium on you monthly subscription, not adding 20% of the Blueray surcharge.
Yeah, the post wording is misleading. It looks like the price is increasing from a fixed $1 rate TO ~20% of your base monthly fee, which is an actual increase in the fee itself of anywhere from 0-800%. Or, in other words, your overall monthly fee increases by ~20% if you want Blu-Ray. :(
Fiscally, I suppose this makes sense, but it sure does hurt. For 3-at-a-time, your total monthly fee increases from
I just canceled my Blu-Ray with these idiots! First, they don't actually have Blu-Ray. They're lying. I had 20 BD picks in my queue and never got 1 disk sent to me after 2 weeks. I called and they admitted they were 'sold-out' and I had to wait for 1 to be returned, then if I got lucky, they would send me one of my picks. Second, they now want to increase the cost by 400%. Fuck them. Fuck them up the ass. No more Netflix BS for me.
@Cronick ,
I think a surcharge on a per-disc-received basis was be more fair than a monthly charge.
After 2 months of not getting any of the 20+ blu-rays in my queue because they was a "short" wait on them i canceled my account with them.
Canceled my subscription 20 mins ago. This is BS.
The only way to fix this is to cancel the bluray plan or your netflix all together. Only for a month or two and they will get the picture. I don't really blame netflix but they need more of an incentive to put pressure to the Sony cartel to lower the prices.
This is however the inevitable repercussions of going with the least consumer friendly disc format. You were all warned that making bluray's were more expensive than DVD's although I'm sure that is a small part of the consumers price. What should happen is BB, blockbuster, walmart and netflix should get together and stop selling the bluray's until they can get their act together.
So now my rate went from $17.99 to $16.99 a month. I just cancelled the blue ray option. Anycase, at least 90% of the movies are still DVD only. Hopefully, most of us will do the same and they will get back to no surcharge. If not, I'm afraid next move is surcharge for streaming...
Why are you guys still talking about this Blu-ray stuff? What happened to wunch? Maybe he just keeled over? We need to organize a rescue party!
Netflix account canceled!
http://www.zaneperry.com/wp/2009/03/30/so-long-netflix/
Seriously??? If more people are renting Blu-Ray, doesn't it become less expensive? It looks like they're just trying to pass on the initial cost onto their customers.
Why not offer an option for "First Available" next to DVD or Blu-Ray, saving you from frustrated customers, and saving customers from increased cost?
That's one way to do it. Of course, if Blu-Ray was gaining significantly over DVD, Netflix would get the additional money by making DVDs more expensive as a deterrent, allowing them to buy less DVD copies and switch to Blu-Ray.
So, in other words, it depends on the amount of people Blu-Ray are gaining. Until they become the majority format, the price will increase with additional users.
They have to build up stock of the Blu Ray titles, which is a significant cost.
You're forgetting one thing. Blu-Ray is MORE EXPENSIVE! More people wanting Blu-Ray instead of DVD means they have to buy things that are MORE EXPENSIVE to accommodate them.
They're not raising prices because more people wanting BD makes BD more expensive, they're just adjusting the fee to actually make it profitable. No costs changed, they just realized it's FREAKING EXPENSIVE!
Until BD's are LESS EXPENSIVE than DVD's, or equally so, there will obviously be a fee. This isn't hard to understand.
No, it's the exact opposite. Increase in demand means an increase in price.
I prefer Blockbuster mail renting thingy, cause when you're done watching the movie, you can drive to the store and exchange it for a new movie. And you get a free game rental every month :)
lol, everyone here must hate blockbuster!!
yeah thats hilarious that people will vote down because of brand loyalty, even when their mad at that brand!!!! insanity
but yeah i didnt realize about the free game! thats awesome, and the exchange for a movie thing is cool. quicker that way. thanks for the protip
WTF NETFLIX!?
4 dollar increase for my plan? Fucking preposterous.
I wonder how much it costs the company to be able to rent out Blu-Ray films?
Well, if they spend $10,000,000.00 a year on DVDs and 10% of their populace now prefers blu-ray titles and we'll say on average blu-ray titles are double the cost of their DVD counterpart, we could say $2,000,000.00.
2 million dollars to satisify 10% of the customer base versus 10 million dollars to satisfy 90% of the customer base, seems like blu-ray renters are more expensive cost-wise to the company in dollars spent per percentage of customer base, Aaron. Its probably why blu-ray members will have to pay about 20% more. Which when you think about it, should just about balance out the inequality that may have existed before.
Buy more copies of Blu-Ray movies Netflix then this would be worth it, month long waits for movied already on pay perview is not cutting it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Um, I think that's what the extra fee is for, dude.
@ Jake: WIN
Customers who currently have Blu-rays on their account do not appear to be affected:
Your plan is no longer offered
You currently have Blu-ray access on your plan for $1.00 a month. Blu-ray access on this plan is now $4.00 a month. If you select a new plan, you will not be able to return to this price.
That would be nice if existing BD users are grandfathered in.
I still don't buy the "we need to purchase more Blu-Ray discs" claim since they no longer need to purchase DVDs for those users. It's the same number of discs, it's just the breakdown that's changing.
If they were smart, they would have blamed it on the outrageous price of Blu-Ray discs (which consumers know to be true) and then we could get angry at the right source.
I'm getting the same message, so it appears that current customers who are already paying the $1 surcharge will not have to pay the higher rates.* That's good news, and should be featured more prominently (both in this story and in the eventual Netflix press release/blog post on the subject).
* Unless this is a mistake, and Netflix ends up "correcting" it when it becomes public knowledge.
Sorry this is completely false. I just got my email from Netflix and they said I will be paying the additional surcharge (from 1 to 4) starting 4$. Sorry to bust your bubble on that one.
I don't think this is true, for me at least. I got an email from Netflix earlier today announcing the price hike on my account.
Actually, it doesn't appear that we are grandfathered in. This Netflix blog post suggests that the new fees will be applied to existing accounts, too, starting next month:
"If you have added Blu-ray access to your account, this change will take effect on your next billing date on or after April 27, 2009. You will also receive an email from us letting you know the monthly charge for your plan. (Members who do not have Blu-ray access today and add it to their account in the future will see the new prices as of today.)"
(from http://blog.netflix.com/2009/03/price-update-for-access-to-blu-ray.html)
you're dead wrong. I have the plan for 3 dvds at a time with blu ray access for $1 extra, here's the email I just got:
You are receiving this email because you added unlimited Blu-ray access to your account for $1 a month. The number of Blu-ray titles has increased significantly and will continue to do so. As we buy more, you are able to choose from a rapidly expanding selection of Blu-ray titles. And as you've probably heard, Blu-ray discs are substantially more expensive than standard definition DVDs.
As a result, the monthly charge for Blu-ray access is increasing for most plans and will now vary by plan. The charge for monthly Blu-ray access on your 3 DVDs at-a-time (Unlimited) plan will increase from $1 a month to $4 a month. The price of your 3 DVDs at-a-time (Unlimited) plan is not changing and remains at $16.99 a month.
The new charge for Blu-ray access will be automatically added to your next billing statement on or after April 27, 2009 and will be referenced in your Membership Terms and Details.
Simple Math guys: 1-(Old Price/New Price) = close to 20%
The confusion is not the math, it's the semantics. If, in your formula, "Price" means your overall monthly fee, then yes it is increasing by ~20%. However, if "Price" means the supplemental Blu-Ray portion of your fee, then for most people it is increasing by WAY more than 20%.
That is rather lame. I'm only on the 2-at-a-time plan, but that will be a 100% increase in cost for me. Granted it is only another $1, but in these times... it makes a difference. The "standard" plan is 3-at-a-time which will be a $2 increase. Are they sure that is such a good idea? Might be time for my to cancel my blu-ray add on for netflix and just rent BD's from my local Redbox. Cheaper...
Oh wait. I just got the email from netflix. That's not price after, thats price increase. So It's now 3$ a month for a 2 disk plan? Screw that.
In these times? 1 dollar? C'mon, how bad is the economy really hitting you? Like enought to bitch about 1 dollar on your already very cheap DVD rentals? Please, cut em some slack.
I'd suggest that if "these times" are really hitting you hard then maybe having a crystal clear 1080p picture on your big tv shouldn't be a priority.
My bluray access went from $1 to $2.... that's a 100% increase Engadget, not a 20% increase.
20% of your PLAN price, not the Blueray surcharge...
20% of your monthly cost already.
Meaning if you pay 8.99 now and it Bumps up to 9.99 it's about a 10% increase for you.
Well, I think this fee might hurt Blu-ray adoption quite a bit.
However, I have to say that unlike last time they raised the rates for Blu-ray, this time there IS a difference. Go ahead and look at any of my comments on the other Netflix Blu-ray threads. Each time, I say why are they charging me more and not doing more? If I pay special Blu-ray rates, I should get the same level service for Blu-ray that I would for DVD if I paid DVD rates.
Well, this time they did it. I noticed about two weeks ago that in my queue I went from having no movies under "long wait" to having only 1 (of about 16) that are not at "short wait" or less. Two weeks ago they were sending me movies that so old they were to come out on HBO the next month like Into the WIld or Pineapple Express. A week ago I got "Leatherheads", which had been in my queue since before it came out (about 8 months).
But now things look good.
I'm not at all happy about the price raise. But it does appear that Netflix is finally willing to offer a service that meets the expectations that charging for Blu-ray engenders.
I was considering canceling, given that I was getting movies that were already on HBO and I already subscribe to two movie channels. So what was I really paying for? Now I'll definitely reconsider.
2 movie channels and Netflix? Dude you need to go outside and get some sun. Seriously.
UGH.
You had to mention Into the Wild. When I'm writing an essay on the goddamn book. Thats due in an hour. wtf am i doing on engadget...
I bet they'll lower the prices back down once blu-rays are as cheap as DVDs!!!
/sarcasm
fark.. wrong reply button.
Huh. Just realized I can get by with a 2-at-a-time plan.
New DVD price: $20
New BluRay price: $35
DVD Netflix (Three at-a-time): $17
BRD Netflix (Three at-a-time): $21
You're angry because this will cost you an additional $4/mo? I don't see what makes you people feel ripped off. Do you think Blu-Ray's don't cost Netflix any more than DVD? Do you think Netflix is receiving special / preferential treatment from the powers that be? You all need to give this some more thought. This is an excellent deal for Blu-Ray owners.
--Signed a guy without a blu-ray player who canceled his Netflix account yesterday
"Do you think Netflix is receiving special / preferential treatment from the powers that be?" - Yes they are. It is well known that Netflix is involved in profit sharing deals with most of the studios. Do you really think they pay anything close to retail or even wholesale pricing for the discs they purchase?
That type of arrangement has been going on since the days of VHS. Rentals shops couldn't afford to bring in the quantities needed for new releases so the studios/distributors made deals to sell the tapes to the rental shops for less in exchange for a cut. They also agreed to take back the excess after the initial demand went down. Otherwise the rental shops would sell off the previously viewed tapes, which cut into the sell-through sales from the studios. They are doing the same thing with DVD and BD.
Well, put it this way. We got Netflix when it was $2... Netflix decided to encourage the growth of Blu-ray by reducing the charge to $1 a month.
Gee, now that they've got a lot more people, they're going to push the charge up to $4. A bit sneaky, eh? Lure people in and then rape $3 more out a month from them. It might not sound like a lot, but when you factor in that there's tens of thousands of people with that, Netflix just gained a huge profit from them and I bet some won't even notice where a few more dollars are going each month.
how is it an excellent deal for Blu-ray owners?
I'm still paying for all the luddites who are watching DVDs. Why should I pay for their DVDs when they are clearly not paying for my Blu-ray discs?
If Netflix want to raise the rates for Blu-ray because I watch Blu-ray, no problem. But they should also allow me to remove the charge that keeps everyone else stocked with DVDs I don't watch that I am still paying for.
People claim on Netflix's official blog that they aren't getting many of the Blu-ray discs they asked for in a timely manner, if at all. So not a deal if you don't get much for it but still have to pay.
This blows big time.
Just because I have Blu-ray enabled in my 3 at a time plan doesn't mean I actually *get* BR discs.
First, there are still very few BR discs available, so I'm often wind up getting a DVD when no BR exists.
Secondly, as many here have experienced, the wait times for BR can be excruciatingly long, so you wind up with some 2nd rate DVD.
If Netflix wants to charge a premium, then it should only charge based on the number of BR discs I get each month. For example, if they charged a 25 cent fee per disc, I could get 3 discs at a time for $16.99 a month, with a $1 fee for the 4 BRs that I actually *receive* during the month.
Mark
If your queue hasn't improved yet (I know mine has), maybe it will soon. Maybe your nearby warehouse just hasn't gotten their shipments yet. But my queue is greatly improved. So much so that I had mentioned it to my Netflix-subscribing friends over the last week.
I don't know what obscure movies you're watching, but when I switched to Blu-Ray, every movie in my queue except 1 was available in BD. It's still that way now, almost everything I add is available in BD.
Absolutely. Don't charge me for premium gas when all you have is 87 octane. I understand BD costs are higher, but why should I pay a surcharge for something that's only a minimal part of my monthly films?
I think they're upping the price so complainers like yourself will get there movies without the long waits
just a hunch
Quit complaining and drop the service, there are plenty of people who realize they're not getting ripped off one bit
Hmmm...out of 27 titles in my queue 6 are availalbe in BluRay. so I am paying a 20% premium for 20% of my discs being BluRay?
Hrrrmm.
Currently, 15 out of 43 discs (34%) in my queue are Blu-ray. I watch a lot of classics, foreign films, and TV shows that aren't available on BR.
When looking through my queue just now I did notice that the "Long Wait" and "Very Long Wait" discs have disappeared! Most are now available, or have a short wait.
So, if this price increase means that Netflix has finally bit the bullet and purchased a sufficient quantity of BRs to satisfy the demand, then perhaps the increase won't be a bad thing. Given my viewing history, I average 2.5 BR discs a month, so spending an extra $4 a month, or $1.60 per disc, isn't the end of the world.
Of course, after having recently dropped close to $5K on a new 52" 1080P monitor, receiver w/ HDMI switching and Dolby TrueHD, and a BR player, I shouldn't really bitch about an extra $4 a month to showcase the gear. :-)
Now, when the hell are they going to release the LotR trilogy, and Aliens box set on BR?
@CharlieX
Exactly. I've rented 1 or 2 Blu-Rays since I got NEtflix, but just liked having the option and didn't really mind the dollar. 4 Dollars a month more though? Seems a bit excessive.
Aww, that kinda sucks, an additional $1 for me. I thought the $1/month to rent BDs was very reasonable when I signed up last month, disapointed they'll be hiking it, but at least it's not too much for me. THough like everybody is saying, how in the hell does this compute into a 20% increase for the BD cost? I was thinking, "Oh, so I pay a $1.20 for BDs now, no bigger..." This is a 100% increase in the price of renting BD's.
If they mean your overall monthly fee is 20% raise, well, that's pretty significant for most people.
This is getting crazy.
I THINK the 20% means, across the total price of the plan? 5$ to 6$, is well about 20%. 30$ to 36$ is well, about 20%.
So, indeed the actual UP CHARGE is 300% of the 1$ it used to be, but come on folks, this ain't rocket science.
That being said, I've been a member since the beta days, and even though I pay about 11$ a month for 3AT, I might just leave.
too expensive. just axed bluray access from my netflix account.
With Netflix latest price increase and the delays in getting many titles in my que it might be time to consider VUDU again. Especially since the box is now down to $150. Sure I have to pay $5 for each HD title but Netflix just seems less and less practical as time goes by.
yeah, ive been waiting for milk, at the top of my queue sense 3 weeks before the damn movie was released. it was ready to ship, i put my account on "vacation" for 2 days and it put me at the bottom of the pile, so i have another several weeks to wait.
same went for the new 007, which was in my queue for months to ensure i'd get it first, but no, its got a "very long wait" as does "Madagascar 2"...
increasing prices, and giving worse service? i still konw its the best deal out there, but its getting frustrating because if i want to take advantage of it i am basically just sitting back waiting for the movies i want to watch, while watching "filler" movies most of the time that i have little interest in, and just dont want to waste the service.
why would you put your account on vacation for 2 days?
And at the sametime RedBox is introducing blu-ray for $1 a movie (ie, the same as a normal DVD).
Meh.
To get my business, Netflix needs to vastly enhance their streaming library (it's pathetic right now). I'll be on board once they take that step. I can live with the mediocre streaming quality and stereo audio.
Once their library is improved, next order of business is to move from stereo audio to 5.1--and after that, increasing streaming quality.
What does Block Buster's in-Store Blu-Ray selection like? Given this rate increase and the amout of time to get a Blu-Ray disk in the mail, it maybe time to switch. I can always swing by 2 of them on the way home. If they have the BD, great! If not, I'll try tomorrow or maybe settle on the DVD.
This wouldn't be so bad if stuff didn't sit in my queue for months at a time. When something new is released, it usually sits in my queue marked "Very Long Wait" for at least 6 months... sometimes longer. I am fine with raising the price of your service if I get an added benefit or your service is so marvelous that I can't do without it... but, I can do without Netflix now.
Methinks I will pick up an Apple TV and just rent HD flicks through that...
It sucks that they are increasing price but, the 3 at a time plan is still cheaper than Blockbuster's 3 at a time. It makes sense honestly, until the price of Blu-Rays goes down, Netflix has to charge more. Honestly, going from $17 to $20 wouldn't be a deal breaker to me.
Just got the email from Netflix, I use the service because it is economical, but with this I will continue to get Blu-rays, and just get one less movie out at a time. Way to go Netflix, this is exactly what you need to be doing in these hard economic times
So here's the scenario. Because of the price increase you drop to 2 discs at a time. With the increase you'll be paying $16.99 for two discs (same as you were paying pre-increase for 3 discs). So in essence, you still pay them $16.99 but instead of having 3 of Netflix's DVD's at any time you now have 2. So Netflix gets the same amount of money from you but at less of a demand on their inventory (and also frees up one of those blu-ray dvd's just sitting at your house, which alleviates some of the long wait times others have complained about). Sounds like a good move for Netflix.
Block buster doesnt charge anything for BR or HDDVD access and they have in store exchange and games comming soon. When I saw the game thing and a 2 months 1/2 price deal I jumped on board and have been happy. About the same turn around and with a bbuster near my house and work im good for the exchanges. Ive turned them in at the store and had new ones shipped the same day.
Silly Netflix. I'm not a particularly heavy user so I just cut my plan from 3-at-a-time with BD to 1-at-a-time with BD. I'm really not going to notice the difference convenience-wise and they lose half my money. Very short-sighted. I see they have an argument, albeit a small one, but where is my option for a BD-only account then?
Wait...so raising the price an extra $3 finally caused you to realize you were buying a 3-at-once deal you didn't really need? If you wouldn't see any difference from dropping from 3 discs to 1 disc what we're you giving them an extra ten bucks a month for? Who's the silly one here?
Lethargy my dear boy/girl. Like buying expensive cars. Not really needed, but nice to have. Not really defending myself here but just pointing out that this may tip a few of us more lethargic types into action for a change.....which is bad business.
I did the exact same thing. I went to the 1 at a time.
They don't have a BD only rate yet because you're an early adopter. Which also means you pay higher price premiums to work out the kinks and lower the overall cost for the rest of us that may or may not ever jump on the Blu-Ray boat seeing as how we're probably going to move away from physical media faster than Blu-Ray will get adopted.
I agree with you that we could well be moving away from physical media faster than BD is getting adopted. Personally, watching BD on a good tv with surround sound is as good as it gets right now, downloading, streaming etc can't yet compete, but it's also the reason I'm not actually buying any BDs (my player is my PS3, used primarily for gaming). As for the price change, it's only 4 bucks, less than a beer, so it's not that I'm whining about really, it's the principle of springing what is effectively a 400% price increase for BD-only folk out-of-the-blue with some horrendously vague justification. Sure I could just eat it but as I said, they made the mistake of, at least temporarily, stirring me from my lethargy to realize i don't actually need their price hike. Sounds like a lot of folk feel the same way too.
The text of the article says Netflix will "push that premium higher by around 20 percent"; the premium, not the total price. So, they are clearly wrong, and should correct it to "...push the total monthly cost higher by around 20 percent".
After my first burst of outrage, I consider that
- The $1 charge always seemed surprisingly low, and if they had started at the new rates I would have been satisfied
- The argument about greater supply driving this, which sounds crazy, actually makes sense: It means that we are actually receiving a much higher percentage of Blu-ray disks than we did as early adopters, and so it's reasonable to pay more.
- The era of physical media is at an end anyway, so who cares what they charge?
These comments make me sad.
Stay in school, kids.
Seriously.
I was not happy about the $1, but paid it. $3 crosses my arbitrary line. I removed BD access from my account.
If enough of us just cancel BD access, Netflix may reconsider asking us BD owners to subsidize their streaming initiatives. :)