Netflix raising rates for Blu-ray subscribers by around 20 percent
By Darren Murph 
posted March 30th 2009 2:00PM
posted March 30th 2009 2:00PM
Thanks to Lee for the email image.
posted March 30th 2009 2:00PM
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jsdhcvuehv, asdijfei, dsifhv!!!
I'm going to quit my Blu-ray account ASAP!!!!!
Or do what most are doing: nothing. I'll bet that few will cancel.
Seriously, shut up. If you can't afford this, then you have bigger problems on your hands than watching movies to take care of.
Just got the email and went straight to Netflix. Changed my account from 4 at a time with bluray to 3 at a time with bluray. I was already close to dropping my plan down to 3 anyway. I may drop it down to two at a time in a couple months. I doubt I'll cancel any time soon though, I got my father in law a Roku for Christmas and found out I really want one too! It's a really nice little device for the price and no additional fee over the regular subscription.
I don't like it, but I'll stomach it if it means I get new release BDs more quickly.
Just received an email about the price rise from netflix
bastards
Our great president Obama must be involved in this. First AIG and GM, now Netflix.
I already quit Netflix after they jacked the Blu-Ray prices up the first time. This just reminds me why I did that.
Looks like the pricing is already changed. However, current Blu-ray customers aren't affected. I just looked at my NetFlix account:
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.
Current customers won't be affected until after April 27
Argh, so lame.
Netflix is growing online service and paying for it through Blu-ray :)
That is ridiculous. The movies cost about 20% more so Netflix is just passing on the cost to the subscribers. There's no conspiracy involving the download service.
Well, if they have to pay 2X the price for BD like all of us do at retail, how can they NOT raise BD prices? Either that, or 100,000 people will fight over 3,000 copies of a new movie. I'd rather PAY MORE and actually get what I want. Netflix is a business, not a charity - they are giving you a more expensive product, and they are charging you more.
But, will they lower your cost when the price of Blu-Ray drops as has already been hinted at by some of the studios? Somehow, I think that's highly unlikely. Prices, much like taxes, never seem to go down, only up. That's the issue I take with this justification.
Okay, let me make it simple... STOP buying your Blu-rays at Best Buy and you WON'T be paying 2x the amount that DVDs cost!
Amazon and Deep Discount DVD usually offer new release Blu-rays with $1-$3 of their DVD counterparts. Heck, I bought Iron Man Blu-ray from Amazon for $16.00 a few weeks after its release. And Amazon.co.uk is currently running $8 BPS ($12 USD) for select BDs, AND giving you a 3-for-2 at that price! (Air Force One, Close Encounters, Run Lola Run, lotsa great stuff... just check playability via http://bluray.liesinc.net !)
All this to say... NEVER pay those crazy BB prices!
AND I don't know where Netflix buys their Blu-rays, but it sounds like they need to stop going to BB too, and maybe then they won't have to raise our prices!
-Pie
One small problem.. Amazon is starting to turn into these companies. Blu-Ray 007 is 23.99 to 25.99, but at Target 4 of them are at 14.99. I loved amazon, but I have started to notice a shift in their prices and they are no longer as cheap as they used to be. What Happened???
I just got the Email
$3 a month more just for bluray ... What the Funk
ANY new releases are A LONG WAIT for bluray how about they fix that Before ripping me off
Ok so at Amazon etc.. retail prices are only like $5 more then dvd .. so at the wholesale level that netflix buys them at .. is there any difference at all ??? i doubt it
But why raise the price again? They should have raised it to $4 when they instituted the first Blu-Ray premium
I was honestly expecting a bigger hike the first time in Oct...when it was only a 1.00 extra I was happy...now, not so much
Bending over... slooowwly taking pants off..... IM NOT DRUNK ENOUGH... i might dump the blu and stay gray... I'm trying to cut costs... Not cut costs to make room for others... *pulls pants back up*
I blame the studios for the high cost of BD, not Netflix.
Oh god, i agree with you... Disney is cruel when it comes to pricing... Best Buy had BOLT for $34... seriously... who will pay $34 for a disney cartoon...
Just got the email. Like others have said, if it means no more "very long wait" on new releases, then it's fine. If not, then I start making changes.
Only one way to combat this.... with your wallets, stop using Netflix.
At what point will consumers not be charged extra for HD content? You want Blu-ray? That'll be $2-4 more per month. You want HD channels? That'll be $10 more per month.
At what point in the future does HD become so standard where everyone is paying for these extra fees? Remember the touch tone phone fee? It went on for years and years.
It's already "free" through cable providers. I still pay the same subscription to my cable company but my HD channels are growing. Blu-ray's model is to make money on the actual content thus anything to do with packaged media will see the premium. It's not in their interest to give you quality at the same prices of other SD content or simply free upgrade to HD.
You will pay more money for online/downloadable HD but that's mostly because of the bandwith requirement and it's still less then Blu-ray or at least the same as your regular rentals at Blockbuster and similar. They can get away with it becase there's no packaging and other costs that plague packaged media overall.
Netflix is obviously forced to do this because the studios are greedy and hype up the prices for them.
And btw, Blu-ray is significantly more expensive then DVDs at wholesale. Even if it's in cents (and it's more) on a larger number replication becomes expensive.
As for amazon prices, Blu-ray is a lot more expensive for most titles except when Disney hypes up DVD version to Blu-ray level as opposed to lowering BD version closer to DVDs.
I did comparison in prices on amazon in one of my previous posts not in this topic. Prices range from 1.5-3x over DVD version.
yea so I got the $5 more per month email a few minutes ago.
I think I am dropping down to the 2@ a time plan instead of the 4@ a time plan. Refuse to pay damn near $30 a month when I dont have to. Guess I will just be buying more than renting now
Yeah, I have the 1-out unlimited plan, and $1-2 a month extra is a pretty big hike. I'm looking for a customer service email address we can all send complaints to.
Oh, and great minds browse alike, VGEVO 4 LIFE.
-Erik (LeftE)
I don't mind as long as they do a better job of getting new releases out to you. I haven't really had that problem, but I know plenty who are close to canceling due to long waits for Blu-Ray.
quit my blu ray option on my account, hell, never got any blu ray movies anyways....did'nt even know I was paying for the option! ans sure not going to pay for others to use that option
What are you guys crying for? Soon the Chinese will figure out how to copy bluray movies for dirt cheap (no loss in quality either).
Soon we'll be buying bluray's on the street for 3 for $10.00.
@numerwan
I paid $26.99 at Best Buy for Bolt. Did you wait until after the first week to get it?
Guess I will be switching to the 1 out at a time plan then.
The $6 a month difference in price is not worth the extra disc.
So can I now expect new titles to be in stock sometime within first 3 weeks they are released?? Oh wait. That was the line given when they raised the price the first time.
I will drop down my plan from 3 to 2 discs out.
It seems like Netflix is trying to make me buy a bluray drive to 'ripp and return' to get my money's worth :-P
Why not just charge the damn $4 the first time. They make it seem like its only $4 but in reality its $5 when you add the other increase.
Six months from now another $4? I don't mind paying for it, but I do believe its at the limit of what I am willing to pay. I like new movies like the next guy, but the "Long-Wait" on half my que is also ridiculous as well. They need to fix this issue.
Just keep in mind that this only covers some of the increase in Blu-ray rentals. What happens when useage hits over 20-50%? Does that mean another increase?
Don't cancel the account just yet. If you are dissatisfied and want to send a message, then just put the account on hold for a few months. This way you don't loose whatever.
I got my answer to this. Redbox. I have been using this even while I had netflix. I don't even watch enough movies anymore to justify netflix anymore. Redbox..$1 per night per movie. If there is only one I want to watch bam. 1 Dollar and im done. Plus I can get online and reserve the movie and pick it up and return it to any redbox I want. Plus I always buy the big name movies on BD anyways. Cya Netflix.
If only the Red Boxes near me had Bluray discs.
$1 a month going to $5 a month, so my $24 plan goes up almost 25% in one month?
F%CK NETFLIX. I cancelled Blu-rays. Hope the rest of your schlubs get yours faster. Now I'm going to look into Blockbuster.
This sucks @ss.
You can basically stay at the same rate by cutting back one disc/month unless you're already at the $8.99 plan.
Yet another barrier to Blu-ray adoption.
http://livinghighdef.com/wordpress/?p=550
Netflix has no real competition.
Blockbuster does not know what they are doing.
RedBox - you can hardly find those and they have next to nothing in bluray.
There needs to be some competition for Netflix - then well get better prices.
I never have any problems finding Blu Ray movies at my handful of Redbox machines. I see more of a problem finding machines in certain areas. I have about 4-5 in my area I think with 1 Moviecube machine.
If they are going to charge me an extra $3/month now--I want to see those 10 blu-rays at the top of my list as "now" instead of "xxx wait" If i'm paying a premium, I don't want DVDs shipped to me, I wan't the blu-rays that have been at the top of my list for months! There should be a policy that any released blurays at the top of the list must be shipped before any DVDs below.
Please, do like me and drop bluray TONIGHT. Even if you add it later, we need to send these bean counters a strong message. Netflix tried raising rates before... and it did not work. I will send them a complaint letter and you should too. 30% more just for blu-ray supporters? Netflix should just be happy actual physical discs have a future for now.
Upscaling a normal DVD looks just about as good for most films anyway.
Your upscaling a normal disc comment rendered the rest of your comments null and void.
This is only true if your setup meets the following...
a) Your TV is 46" or less (the typical human eye can't tell the difference between 1080p and 720p on screens smaller than 50")
b) you have a REALLY good upscaler (not the freebie that came with your set. I mean an Reon based player or an OPPO)
c) you're still using optical for sound. (That is you don't have an AVR that can decode lossless audio)
Yes, everybody, please drop Blu-ray tonight. Then maybe I'll get MY Blu-ray discs from Netflix quicker. :)
I, personally, cannot believe the outrageous price hike. I mean, first of all, it takes forever to even get a blu-ray disc. They don't have enough of them, yet their charging a premium like this? Absolute insanity. I immediately changed my plan and lowered how much their getting from me. I was at 5-at-a-time, now I'm down to 3-at-a-time. Good luck increasing revenue this way Netflix.