It’s happening again. All new Netflix users who sign up on or after May 9, 2014 will have to pay $8.99 per month – a dollar more than current users are paying.
The website Re/code announced the price change on Friday, May 9, 2014, showing a screen shot of a message from Netflix promising that current users are grandfathered into the current $7.99 price for two more years.
This price increase was announced last month, when Netflix said it would start with new customers and eventually raise prices for current users after a “generous time period.” This increase is due (so Netflix says) to the increase in costs for content, especially quality content, which many Netflix supporters and naysayers are prone to complain about Netflix not having.
Netflix began its price increases earlier this year in Europe to little disruption or protest from users. This is obviously different from the supremely negative reaction thrown at Netflix the first time it raised prices in 2011—and lost close to one million subscribers. Since then, original programming like “House of Cards” and “Orange is the New Black” has upped the company’s stake, and now the streaming company is wiser in its financial decisions, especially when they involve consumers.
Netflix is hoping it can continue this upward trend, but it will need to put the (newly obtained) money where its mouth is and actually give customers what they are now paying for. Let’s see what happens.
*It should be noted that when I went on to Netflix a few minutes ago, the price was still offered at $7.99. There was also no notice sent to me about the price increase, like the one sent to the writer at Re/code.
