AMC hikes prices for its MoviePass rival in 15 states
You'll have to pay up to $4 more depending on where you live.
It's not just upstarts like MoviePass hiking rates for their movie subscription services. AMC is raising prices for its Stubs A-List service in the 15 states where it's "most popular." As of January 9th, 2019, the service will jump from $20 per month to $22 per month in Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington state and DC. That price is climbing to $24 per month in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. You'll still get the $20 per month rate for a year if you subscribe before January 9th, as well as in the 35 other states not affected by the price increase.
The theater chain also took a not-so-subtle dig at MoviePass' tendency toward frequent price adjustments. It stressed that it would provide 90 days' notice for any price or feature changes, and wouldn't apply any such changes until after that one-year period is over. "As a reputable operator, AMC has no desire to whipsaw its guests with frequent change, nor would it do so without providing guests reasonable advance notice," the company said.
While AMC characterized itself as "holding the line" on pricing, it's clear that isn't really the case. It appears to be grappling with the same problem MoviePass has faced, just on a less extreme level: too much popularity can be expensive. AMC is reaching is first-year membership goal in about four and a half months, with 500,000 Stubs A-List subscribers expected as of mid-November. That kind of growth looks great in a press release, but it could be problematic if AMC was expecting a gentler adoption rate.
