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
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posted March 30th 2009 2:00PM
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Wow, I'm surprised how Netflix loyalists are defending this so vehemently. I understand that it costs more for BD's, but the biggest issue I have is the amount of the increase. If it were to slowly increase over time, it wouldn't be as big of a shock that it's going from a buck to four. If they intended to do this, they should have stepped it up in $1 amounts, or began with a $2 charge or so in the first place. And one more thing -- I can guarantee that after this goes into effect, we'll still see "very long wait" for a month and a half after all high-profile new releases. Mark my words, this will not change wait time, only allotment which needs to grow anyway with more BD customers. So this is basically an extra 20% to keep things where they are right now, I wouldn't get my hopes up for better availability.
I considered dropping Blu-ray until I looked at what is shipping to me tomorrow. I got all 5 of the new release Blu-rays I put at the top of my list including the two discs from the UFC one. As long as they keep sending me every disc that I want I will continue to pay them what they ask for. Basically they don’t have any real competition right now. If you demand high quality(and no there is nothing of Blu-ray quality available for download right now) then you will just have to get used to paying a premium.
1. Chris Botti in Boston
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Seven Pounds
4. The Chronicles of Riddick
5. UFC: Best of 2008 Disc 1
UFC: Best of 2008: Disc 2
My $29.99 plan just went to $35.99! Ouch that is a 20% increase!
I'll be checking out Blockbuster now.
You'll be disappointed :(
Blockbuster is very, very location dependent. If you live in proximity to a major city, their availability for BD's is much better, but the turnaround is a few days slower. On the plus side, they don't charge extra to rent BD's. If you're near a big city at least give them a trial.
Shhhhhhhh... your telling everyone where to go. I don't want more people at Blockbuster becasue they will all go there, take my movies, then blockbuster will get this idea of raising prices. Damn you Spiza for opening your mouth.
The studios should take a look around and realize this is a time when everyone is DISCOUNTING their product, not hiking up prices. We have seen price deflation in all commodity prices except for gold, and since these disks aren't made of gold there's no reason to keep charging high prices in a depressed economy. Greedy punks will see their revenues fall but they ain't getting a bailout from me.
Just dropped my Blu Ray and shocked all the New Releases in DVD are on a XXXX wait too....
WTF!!! The first thing I did when I read the E-mail was to kill blu-ray access. As someone else said, this will slow down the adoption of blu-ray. For me the difference isn't worth it. I'll stick with DVD until they decide to charge extra for it.
I dropped from 4 at a time with bluray for 28.99 to 3 at a time with bluray for 20.99. This will actually save me $4 bucks a month. Thanks Netflix!
Why is the jump from 3 to 4 dvds more than the other jumps?
Last week I dropped from 3 at a time unlimited to 2 at a time unlimited, which starts 4/1/2009. I'm cancelling Netflix tomorrow and I will just do the 99 cent a night rentals from Blockbuster. Getting to be just "another bill". I don't EVER do the netflix streaming, why can't I not have that on my account and not be charged for it?
It's the second price hike for Blu-Ray in less than 6 months. It's a price gouging switch and bait and shouldn't be tolerated.
Did you happen to notice their stock jumped 5% in the few hours after the price hike announcement went out?
I'm sick of these automatic price hikes for loyal customers and am subsequently canceling my Netflix service. I won't stand for that kind of treatment.
Well, I just dropped back to 1-at-a-time from 2, so I'm now spending less. Thanks, Netflix for the push. If they had more titles available (and offered the option), I'd go download-only
Unacceptable. It's a scam - I have yet to see any evidence NF actually stocks Blu-rays, everyone I want is Long Wait or Very Long Wait which mean you'll never see it, even if you're willing to wait.
By %, it's a rather large increase for folks who were already receiving Blu-Ray movies on their accounts.
For 1 disc unlimited, it's a 10% increase
For 2 disc, about 13.3%
For 3 and up, it's about a 16%+ increase
Again, I am factoring in that $1 premium when calculating the % increase.
Anyhow, I'm currently on the 2 disc plan and I don't plan on cancelling or downgrading. To me, it's still a better deal than having premium channels on Cable (which I cancelled when I joined Netflix) and I get better quality movies than Cable HD can offer.
Looks like I'll be dropping down to 2-at-a-time. I don't really watch them that fast anyway, so I'll keep the price I'm paying and get one fewer disc.
While they were careful to announce the price increase details I saw no indication of any improvement in Blu-ray disk delivery, I have about 40 Blu-ray disks in my queue ahead of all dvd disks and I still get dvd disks at times instead of the blu-rays. Is the price increase going to make Blu-ray disks as available as dvd's?????? not a hint.
Hmmm I have blockbuster's plan like netflix and have never seen an extra charge for blu-ray. The best way to combat this is not to drop the blu-ray but to switch to blockbuster. Otherwise Blockbuster will probably do the same thing and start charging for blu-ray.
I too cancelled my Blu-Ray access. When they did the $1 charge for access, I thought no problem the discs are slightly more expensive and they add new functionality allowing you to specify whether you wanted DVD or Blu-Ray so they had development costs to recoup too.
But I'm sorry this is NOT a 20% increase. They are increasing the $1 fee, thus it's anywhere from a 100% to 800% increase in the Blu-Ray fees! The previous posters are right, at a time when almost EVERY business is lowering prices I'm not willing to be gouged by Netflix for a 300% increase in fees.
Sorry but Blu-Ray isn't worth that increase, especially when more and more often I'm streaming Netflix rather than watching physical discs anyways.
Obviously it's not worth it *to you*!
You're happy with overcompressed Standard Definition, with even lower audio bitrates.
I prefer BD, with full 1080p -- the resolution of most HDTVs -- and audio that's usually BETTER than CD quality (24/48), and sometimes incredible quality (Akira with 24/192!). I have a great sub, and love the clean, *smooth*, earth shattering low-end Blu-ray provides.
You can bet I'm pissed they're doing this, especially in a massive recession. THAT is what they should get grief for (yeah they're a business, but they *do* depend on customers!). Not quite AIG level, but still shows that they care more for bottom line than keeping their customers happy.
-Pie
This is so messed up, I bought a blu ray player just so I could rent blu ray from netflix for
only a dollar now they want to increase it by 400%, now thats what I call inflation. There
better not be any waits on my blu rays in the future and older dvd's better be in blu ray also.
I wouldn't have cared if it was only a dollar increase or give us the option for only blu ray.
This is so stupid, the marketing guys should all be fired for such a dumb move
Boo
I'm speaking with my money and have already lowered my plan to 2-at-a-time. Congrats Netflix!
the first time they raised the price i dropped to 1 at a time now. this is bs, the first price increase they claimed it would increase the availability of blu-rays, which it didnt. still get very long wait on the new releases if i dont get them first week. there isnt anything coming out within the next month or 2 i want to see so i may just drop the service and wait for an email to join again at a cheaper price
I quickly canceled my Blue Ray option and went straight DVD. The reason: Blue Ray does not greatly enhance my enjoyment of movies. I would rather have more DVDs out at a time than less Blue Rays. $5 a month (which was going to be the increase for my account) plus the existing $1 monthly premium equals two extra DVDs per month. Every single Blue Ray that I wanted to see had a long or very long wait so I ended up watching mostly DVDs anyway. Perhaps NetFlix will get rid of the premium once Blue Rays start costing the same as DVDs do currently.
I have cut my membership from 3 to 2 at once. I won't kill the blu-ray support because I do enjoy them more than std dvd. If redbox adds blu-ray in my area then I may cut it back to 1 disk at a time. I called netflix customer support and registered a complaint about the fee increase and the lack of a discount for opting out of their instant download service. I have a powerbook g4 and ps3 neither of which they support. I don't want them to get the idea that I support crappy downloads instead of real HD media.
LOL One more reason BR is not worth it.
I almost regret quitting their service already. I'd like to quit over this.
terminated the blu-ray option right when i got the email. not worth another $4 a month. i am a bit frustrated with netflix now as it seems every dvd i have wanted in the last few months has had a "very long wait".
still a loyal subscriber, just a bit pissy now.
I already canceled my account because of this. Dollar amounts for monthly are gettign too high.
Do the math. This is simply a way to boost profits. If they have a million subscribers paying and average $3 surcharge for BD, that's $3.000.000 per month extra. At $20 a pop the can buy 150,000 blu-ray dics. Given how many titles are actually on Blu-Ray, they're really going to fill their pockets. I switched from 3 to 2 discs.
Well, to each his own. I had the 3 out at a time deal, and I immediately dropped the BD service.
I was fine with the dollar increase, but jumping up 4 bucks is too much for me. I personally purchase films on BD that I know i'll want to watch over and over. Anything I rent on BD, i can deal with on DVD upconverted.
I'm don't understand the large price increase. Had it been a dollar, or even 2 bucks, fine. but 4 bucks is a bit much for me personally.
Win
This is a win-win for netflix.. If you pay the extra fees, great, you cover the costs of their BD purchases, and they probably added a little extra profit in there to boot.
If you lower your plan to keep your costs the same, they make the same revenue, and provide less service, and you still give them the extra fees for the BDs you get.
They actually want some people to drop blu-ray and they want some people to keep blu-ray and lower num.titles.out
Some evil genius came up with this plan.
The only way to protest this effectively is to kill your subscription, but there is nothing better out there.
My Blockbuster in-store pass is $21.99, granted its only 1 out a time, but the store is a block away and I can get a new blu-ray every day of I want. Already canceled my NetFlix since I only use it for Blu-ray and the price no longer justifies doing it by mail.
I've been a Netflix subscriber for years. Never looked at Blockbusters service.
$48 a year is a lot for a Blu ray upgrade. I agree that it's a 400% price increase, and too much too quickly. I think they likely did it because Blu Ray subscribers are still a relatively small (10%) slice of their business and they felt they could be easy prey. Lose a few, but who cares in the large scheme of things.
Well, I'm one of the few. I've cancelled service. Blockbuster looks surprisingly good. It's cheaper. It's quick. great selection. In store service if i want it and I can get both Blu Ray and HDDVD.
I HAD the unlimited blu-ray plan, but dropped it to the 3-at-a-time plan once they upped their rates.
Hello, EngadgetHD, this might be worth a news story in and of itself...
A week has passed since this news story was posted, and I just now was checking out "My Account" on Netflix. (I'm on a 2-at-a-time plan with Blu-ray access.) Under the "Change Plan" option, there's a big exclamation point, along with this statement: "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 $3.00 a month. If you select a new plan, you will not be able to return to this price."
I have not yet been billed for April so I don't know for sure, but I gather from this statement that since I signed up for Blu-ray access over a year ago, I am grandfathered in for this policy change. I hope this is true...that I will continue to only be billed an extra buck a month for Blu-ray access.
If this is true, then most of you who whined on this blog post in response to this story owe Netflix an apology, or a thank you.
Seriously, who doesn't see the FREE streaming will shortly be a paid option??? As soon as we are all hooked, this will be the next pricing update.
If you have a clue (and a few monsterous LCDs/plasmas), blu-ray is the only option. I watched 'Twilight' last night on reg DVD and realized an HD set is useless unless 1080p is presented...
With regards to the pricing, I lowered from 4/month to 3 and kept BD.
Well, this seems a little late but why not switch to Blockbuster? Not sure what all the hype is about Netflix apart from online streaming. I've been a blockbuster subscriber for a few yrs now and have had no issues with getting DVDs, am able to switch out in-store and no additional fee for any blu-ray movies (via mail or in store). Why is the general thought that blockbuster sucks? Give em a shot... oh and I am in no way affiliated with Blockbuster.
This does NOT bother me at all. I will pay the extra money for BD. (I cannot watch anything else)
chris
www.highefjunkies.com
Of course they kept the stock of blu-ray titles low on purpose, forcing customers to wait for months for a title. Then the prices go up and presto- all the timeliness of the standard DVD shipping schedule. Netflix was once a good company with an honest approach to their customers. That has been over for nearly a year now. If a competitor shows, I am switching. Just out of spite. I hate being manipulated and ripped off.