Netflix Streaming on Your Console? You Now Have to Pay Separately

Netflix is separating instant streaming from their in-mail Blu-ray/DVD options. Streaming will now cost $7.99. If you still want to have the option for DVDs and Blu-rays, you're going to have to spring for a second package, which start at about $7.99. If you want both, you have to pay for each separately.

-GameRevolution

[insertcoin]

So continues the trend of having to pay for things that used to be free.

[sphinct]

Not a big deal for me. . I've been planning on canceling the disk portion of my Netflix for a while now because I so rarely think of the disks. I almost exclusively use the streaming aspect.

In some ways I do miss going to ye old rental store, but at the same time the convenience of streaming would be missed too if it suddenly disappeared.

[qface64]

the reason why that blows is because the streaming selection they have on netflix is a joke
its nowhere and i mean NOWHERE near what the offer on DVD

[RememberThe357]

qface64

They're saying that this will allow them to bolster their streaming offering. Apparently their negotiating new licensing deals with the studios. and as DVD subscriptions go down this will save them money on infrastructure allowing them to invest more in the streaming content.

[slayorofgods]

@qface64

It is costing netflix millions of dollars to secure what streaming they do have, not to mention just recently Sony pulled every movie off from the Netflix now streaming library just because they wanted millions of extra dollars on top of what netflix already pays from their deal with Stars. Sony asking for money from Netflix is the same as Sony asking Netflix's consumers for more money, who do you think is going to pay for it?

With all that said, I think netflix is doing a reasonable job on not screwing over their consumers with this extra revenue they need to generate.

[squallheart]

@slayer, the issue wasnt that sony wanted more cash, its that when both sony and netflix made the deal they went through a third party. It also stated that the original had a cap of how many users it could have and they are working on a new deal. Please search before u post this was posted 2 months ago.

[ikkokucrisis]

uh oh, time to pull my shares out
sell, sell, sell

[slayorofgods]

@squallheart

ok maybe I'm being to harsh on Sony, it takes away from potential Sony DVD revenue. Fair point.

But still this doesn't exclude my point from being valid. Netflix's deal with Stars! (the third party that has some Sony movies) will most likely cost 4 or 5 times the amount it has in the past.

This is only one of many examples as to why Netflix needs more revenue so consumers will have newer movies. Netflix streaming used to have zero new movies when it started at its cheap price point. If you've read other news articles on netflix you'd see exactly how much money they are spending to have a current library. It is millions upon millions of dollars per deal. Straight up netflix needs more revenue, but at the same time they need to stay affordable. I think their plan is one of the better ones for this factor.

[gamingdroid]

This was one of the reasons I why was uncertain about Netflix profitability. Although, they state they are making money (in the financials), I can't see how they could make money off multiple people streaming from one account. Price is now hopefully in line.

@ikkokucrisis:

Before, I was considering pulling out. Now that they have a much more robust and viable pricing strategy, I think I'm keeping my shares. There is still no real competitor to Netflix and they now got Star Trek.

[Anon1974]

Forgot they had a mail DVD service. In Canada we only have the streaming option, and that's new. I understand it pales in comparison to what they have in the US. Stupid CRTC...

[MaxXAttaxX]

If you ONLY either streamed or had DVDs mailed, now it's cheaper.

[RedDragan]

Someone above said Sony do not want more money. Actually that is wrong and there are plenty of articles on news sites that explain the situation.

Basically NetFlix was on it's own, the only player in the market offering a streaming service for movies. That gave NetFlix power to control the negotiations and they got a cheap rate to pay to the royalty holders.

But now there are more players involved, including companies like Amazon, Apple and soon to be Google. All of these have much deeper wallets than NetFlix can ever hope for, and they will be willing to pay alot more for the rights to show streamed content.

It means the NetFlix will now have to build up a little warchest of cash for these licencing fee's, and that is where the remodelling of the subscription comes in. So if NetFlix don't do this, then NetFlix goes bust.

This is reported in many news outlets and by NetFlix itself. Those companies who own the movies do want more money, Sony included. So let's see the Sony fanboys click the disagree button like they are high on speed. I got facts, you got a little while yet to pass through pubity.

And if you bought shares in Netflix and didn't know there are competitors, then I suggest you don't bother getting into the business of buying and selling shares because you are clearly over your head when you can't see other companies.

[AAACE5]

I know it was said that Netflix was trying to get all of their content on instant streaming. I wonder if they finally have it ready and if so, does it include new releases?

If it does, then it's ok with me. Because I really don't care about the dvd's anyway! I would rather stream everything like I have been doing.

[antz1104]

Hey, if this means they can improve their selection for the instant que, Im all for it. Its going to get to a point anyway where the entire library is streaming. Its about time they started facilitating that.

Now all they need is a search option for the PS3 app.

[GodsHand]

@ antz1104

Press the green triangle button!

[Kleptic]

got the email yesterday...

I have a plan for unlimited streaming, and one DVD/BD by mail for $11.99...I regularly use both, although I rarely use the DVD by mail thing for new movies (as I always get the 'very long wait' report before the movie is even released)...so I just use the PSN rent feature for those...but I DO use it for the stuff that is not on streaming, which is about 85% of their catalog...

so 2 things need to happen to keep me as a subscriber...A) their streaming system needs a major overhaul content wise before Sept. 1st...or B) they need to better gauge demand for certain films, 100% pay whatever possible to get that 28 day wait bullshit from certain publishers...or ideally...both...

I do like how easy it is through a PS3...and is far cheaper through a subscription than individual rentals through the PSN (which ALREADY is miles ahead of netflix's streaming service, even with just rentals let alone what you can fully purchase...its just expensive)...

do that, and i'll stick around...but Netflix has been too busy giving me about 2,000,000 comedy central crap stand up comic recommendations through streaming...the service is getting pretty pointless for me any more...Seems like the more films i rate and like, the more they push unfunny people at me...

[sinclaircrown]

So one month of Netflix is the same as 8 days of one movie per day from Redbox.

Same as 8 TV shows you can download from iTunes.

Can anyone tell me where to get a library of titles like Netflix streaming for just $8 per month? I really can't find the time to watch a lot of the stuff on there. And I'd be surprised they way some of you talk on here that you have ANY time to watch Netflix. I thought all the games were taking up all of your time??

[antz1104]

@ Godshand,

Thank you my friend!!! Just got my PS3 last week and I've only used the app 2x's. I will now proceed to pull my size 10 right out of my mouth :D

[tplarkin7]

This is just the beginning of the dying disc format. Streaming is the future.

[blumatt]

I'd say it's the distant future at best. In the U.S, at least, reliable and speedy internet connections still aren't as prevalent as what it would take for streaming to take over discs (DVD, Bluray). Until I can get a 50MB connection out in the sticks (country slang lol), I'm not going fully streaming. Plus, with discs, we can let friends borrow games and movies. With streaming, you simply cannot (yet anyway).

In Japan, however, I'd say streaming COULD potentially take over relatively soon. (~6-7 years) They enjoy internet connections around the gigabit range. That's wicked fast!! I wish the U.S. would catch up to those types of speeds so I never have to deal with the word "buffering" again. lol

[darthv72]

you dont need super duper speed internet. Netflix uses silverlight which is a much better streaming engine than they had when it was flash. So really good quality streaming can be achieved on as little as 3mbps speed. Maybe even as low as 1.5.

Obviously the faster the higher the quality but even that depends on what you are watching it on. 360 does an excellent job because it uses silverlight to the fullest extent from the netflix servers over xbox live. The wii is ok because of the restricted 480p streams but it still can be watched on 1.5mbps.

More and more companies are getting into the on demand business with streaming through the pc and console or over services like xfinity and uverse which are both IP based services. Even the iphone and (more than likely) the ps vita will do streaming.

I wouldnt say distant future but more like in your face present.

[SpinalRemains138]

That'd be true and great for Netflix if their library didn't resemble a late 80s video store.

We're gonna need a little more than Law and Order and 80s horror flicks.

[slapedurmomsace]

Streaming can be achieved @1.5, but it won't be HD, and also, who knows if streaming is the future, if ISP's decide like some already have, that unlimited isn't the way to go. Comcast has a 250 gig limit, and I think turner does too. Tiers internet is the future in my opinion and that could grossly put a damper on streaming, and definately will on HD streaming.

[RedDragan]

@blumatt

Having a 1Gbps sync speed does not give you a 1Gbps internet connection. You find me a website that will give you 1Gbps downloads.... you will only get something like that on a P2P service and expensive dedicated hardware in a PC. The network cards in the extreme majority of PCs could not ever hope to sustain that sort of transfer, and the modem/routers on the shelves certainly could not ever sustain that sort of speed of transfer.

You are looking at £2,000 for the modem, £2,000 for the switch, £500+ for the network card in the PC.

That 1Gbps sync speed is for businesses to take advantage of to send their data between their own buildings. There is no home user in Japan with less than a few million £'s in their bank account with that sort of equipment lying around.

[Jazz4108]

Reddragan pubity is spelled puberty. Just letting you know.

[AAACE5]

@Blumatt... But Netflix allows you to have instant streaming on up to 5 items!

A guy I work with told me he used it on his 360. His son uses it on his Ps3. His daughter uses it on the Wii. His mom uses it on her PC. His aunt in florida uses it.

All on his single account!

[RedDragan]

@Jazz... my spelling is awful... just look at my user name lol

[LOGICWINS]

"Streaming will now cost $7.99."

Isn't that the way its always been?

[qface64]

you will no longer be able to rent out their DVD's IF you take the streaming option

its either 1 or the other not both

[LOGICWINS]

^^Thats great for me. I never cared for the rent option.

[qface64]

no its not great your getting rid of an extra option that is good while getting nothing in return for the same price

if the streaming had the exact same library of movies as their DVD rentals then its all good
but streaming so far is terrible and they always remove movies off their streaming list

[darthv72]

you think they wont up the number of selectable titles for streaming? If newer movies are being made available in on demand services like xfinity or uverse dont you think netflix will be able to get those same movies?

There is a reason they dont have the same lineup and that was because the saturation of streaming clients was far lower than the physical rental ones. Now more and more are using their consoles and bluray players and even web enabled tv's to stream content.

So to think netflix would just shun that market is crazy. I would actually be surprised if they continued to promote the dvd rental portion as much as they do over the next 2-5 years. They see an upswing in streaming users and a decline in disc users. This gap between libraries will shrink and ultimately be surpassed by the streaming portion.

You can bet on that.

[Bzone24]

"you will no longer be able to rent out their DVD's IF you take the streaming option

its either 1 or the other not both"

That's not true. The steaming is $7.99 and $11.99 for the 2 at a time dvds. You can have both for 19.98. Just got the email from Netflix. It's not a one or the other only deal.

[Legion]

I think the article got it wrong. The mail-in DVD option will now cost you more. Streaming has always cost me $7.99 and I never used the mail-in option.

And why are they labeling this as a console thing? It is the same for PC streaming. Which is what I use to stream my videos.

[XRider]

old

[TheBrit]

I'm confused by this heading. you ALWAYS had to pay for netflix one way or another and it was always free to stream to your ps3 or if you had xbox live or a wii - they are not charging you for having any of those and can still stream - you have always had to have a netflix account of some sort.

[roguewarrior]

Netflix just raised the rates in January, my plan( 3 Dvd/Blu-Rays unlim. stream.)went from $22 to $25. Now they are raising it again 6 months later, not a happy consumer I am.

[bozebo]

Seems fair to me.

[subtenko]

WTF!! NETFLIXXxxxxx! If you do this then make ALL titles available online at least. Someone will find a way around this ay? Netflix is probably influence by the antics of M$, COD, EA, etc.

Agree or Disagree if you Agree that Netflix is getting greedy.

(Edit) Seriously, people will find an alternative to stream maybe, ya know...on the internet, movie streaming...unless if people spread the word that gets shutdown... reply on what you think about this. Redbox is a factor for dvd rental too I guess. Or blockbuster could offer a better deal than Netflix, nows their only chance.

[sinclaircrown]

Make everything available on streaming??? I can't imagine how they didn't think of this on their own man.

You should call them and tell them to do that. You should probably write them a check for about 1billion dollars while you're at it.

Or, you could just deal with the little pricing structure change and wait for Transformers 4 to be streaming to your TV once Netflix gets deals in place.

[sinclaircrown]

So continues the trend of people that think everything should be free.

I think the streaming service on Netflix is worth more than $8p/m. Hell its worth more than my direct TV service IMO!

Besides the "There's never anything good on Netflix" people, they'll do just fine under this pricing.

FYI there are literally thousands and thousands of amazing movies on Netflix. They just happen to be more than 1 or 2 years old.

[Ares84]

Well I had to pay $13.99 so far for blu-ray and instant and I only watched instant and never rented any blu-ray movies. Now I will change my package to instant only because if I want something on blu-ray I will go out and buy it.

So the streaming service was never free. I don't know how people figured that.

[fatstarr]

just the aspect of charging the consumer for everything and then company's wonder why people steal and pirate because when they do the right thing the all mighty hand comes back around to take more money from the consumers.

its all a ruse to keep profits every year.

[Gordo789]

when exactly was the streaming ever free?

[seinfan]

I didn't see anywhere in this article that streaming to a console costs extra. It'll still be $7.99 like it was. I never used the DVD portion myself, but I cancelled my subscription anyways because AT&T decided to go all asshole like Comcast and start putting bandwidth caps.

[AEtherbane]

Not really surprised. Sony is going to begin to charge billions instead of millions for Netflix to use their content. So naturally Netflix has to charge more in order to not operate at a loss. Basic business, if you're angry, blame sony, not Netflix.

[lazertroy]

Tell me this Video Doesn't almost make you cry. I miss the 90's Sooo much.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[BakedGoods]

I miss the 90's when you had to blow into the cartridge for it to load.

[maniacmayhem]

I miss the days of cheat codes in the back of your gaming magazine.

[Sev]

LMFAO @ YodaCracker

[Getowned]

XD!! Yodacracker bubbles

[Spitfire_Riggz]

The funny thing is it always said WARNING DO NOT BLOW INTO THE CARTRIDGE lol

[TheColbertinator]

@YodaCracker

You win the internet.

[maniacmayhem]

Hahaha, it was only a matter of time before Netflix would do this.

I pay 7.99 for streaming and ONE DVD out. I have never had a dvd sent to my house. If it's not available to stream then there are other options available...*evil grin*

[Getowned]

cough cough pirate cough cough cough bay cough,,sorry some think was in my throat.

[SantistaUSA]

Same here, I used to use their bluray movies, but then I found a better way to get it hehehe, and I have a blu ray from netflix since august of last year! :p Looks like i will have to return it now! :D lol

[ASSASSYN 36o]

I already opted for streaming only. Redbox for the win.

[barb_wire]

Until their server goes down or your IP does..

[Sev]

Redbox requires me to leave the house. Too much work. Netflix my mailman takes from my mailbox and brings me the new disc.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

Are you obese or something?

[Gordo789]

Totally. The closest redbox for me is a 20 minute drive EACH WAY. Not worth it at all.

[NukaCola]

What worse is some content that was streamable (like Jacki Brown) is now disc only. Netflix can stream it all but rather toy with the system, forcing users to buy both packages

[kaveti6616]

What's great is that I can download all of those movies and television series in 1080p/720p quality from a high-speed server for absolutely no cost to me.

I tried to be a law-abiding citizen, but the truth as I see it is that these capitalist businessmen are playing dice with our lives. You might say, "What's a few dollars more?" But I say a few dollars more from everyone who subscribes to Netflix will pay for the yachts and the private resorts and the oceanside mansions and the hookers and blow for these money-grubbing CEOs who want us to pay more money for something we can find elsewhere. And when we do find it elsewhere they label us criminals, all under the banner of capitalism.

F**k this bullshit. I will not let this affect me in anyway and I'm tired of people like me being called criminals and low-lifes. You guys shouldn't enable this kind of foolishness. These assholes are ruining humanity, society, and any chance at happiness for the average human being.

[Getowned]

well said!!! bubbles!!

[Why o why]

Your sentiment was shared by the pc owners when ms tried to make them pay for live. They said eff that sht meng. There is a semi worthwhile tradeoff though. If they do bolster their dd movies it would probably benefit more customers as most tend to stream. I felt the same with lovefilm in the uk. Their streaming selection just wasnt comparable and i never had one disk delivered...not even to rent a game.

I agree with what you're saying apart from worrying about what people who dont walk in your shoes say. i watched pirated movies, go to the cinema on the regular and own over 400 dvds with a steady growing collection of blu rays...think ill let anybody tell me anything... they can jog on but yeah, give em an inch and they'll take a mile; That is the way capitalism works

[kaveti6616]

@why o why

If you're right - that is to say that if this new strategy will allow the company to add WAY more content to their streaming service (this includes more films and more popular television shows) - then maybe I jumped the gun in my criticism.

But I really don't believe that Netflix is doing this to benefit the end-user. Where I live, in CA, the price for just streaming is 7.99 USD. In order to get the one-at-a-time DVD added on to the streaming the total cost is 9.99 USD. To me this was a great deal. But by raising the cost without offering any solid reason other than blaming another industry (the film studios), Netflix is not reassuring the consumer.

Keep in mind that Netflix announced this new strategy at their shareholder's meeting. I bet the shareholder's were really happy about that.

And keep in mind that Netflix has never publicly announced the terms and figures of its contracts with the public.

Therefore, if Netflix claims that they have to raise prices because the movie studios are raising the prices, we can only take their word for it.

That doesn't sit well with me.

Anyway, I still believe that the top 2 percent of the company will benefit the most from the price hike. That's why I have absolutely no qualms about illegally obtaining the shows and films I wish to watch.

The executive producers and the CEOs are already millionaires. I am not keen on bending over to line their pockets.

[StankyChicken]

This.

[mastiffchild]

But, kaveti-we're all doomed to this. Netflix will say, with some truth,that the too are being squeezed by the owners of the movie and TV rights. In capitalism everyone gets squeezed but the guy at the top and everyone gets to do so,me squeezing except the guys at the bottom.

As someone who couldn't care less about material things,not really, and definitely not about ownership the more I see the more I feel that Marx was right and all property is theft. We are all conditioned to think the supply and demand thing makes the capitalist world turn but it's a .lie and the many cartels that ride us day in and day out show what bollox it all is. Democracy is just taking the place of religion as the pacifier to the masses-an illusion of power to shut us up as different puppets with the same outcomes ask to be elected to serve the same bankers and banking families election after election in country after country.

The apathy is the scary thing and it's even scarier that it won without anyone putting up a fight.

[bozebo]

"Your sentiment was shared by the pc owners when ms tried to make them pay for live."

That's because all the services we use are already paid for by other people/useres, why pay MS aswell simply for introducing us? Still, better than XBL where users pay MS to use each others' connections for laggy peer to peer...

Anyway, this netflix thing seems quite fair. The problem is that they would deliberately limit some popular things from one or another service to force people to buy both - don't like that? Don't buy EITHER, give them none of your money.

[Gordo789]

Entitled much?

The way to fight this thing is to cancel your subscription. Netflix raising their prices has nothing to do with you trying to legitimize your piracy.

[mendicant]

This is really old news. I've had the ability to this here in California for almost a year now.

[danielle007]

You had a choice, though. The new part of this is that there is no longer a choice.

[Myst]

Wait what maybe I misread but it seems like it states unlimited DVDs/Blurays are one thing and Unlimited streaming is another. I guess when I saw the title I expected that if you had it on your console you'd have to pay something else for streaming it. This is not AS bad and well only doing streaming so not hit to hard...

[Awesome-Xanto]

Redbox is like 10 min away, so I don't care for Netflix. As I only watch a few movies a month, it's cheaper because I will usually take them back the next day.

[doctorstrange]

Boo

[Arthas]

Damn dude, they keep getting greedier. This better make their Streaming library larger b/c as of right now the selection is only good. I want Great!

[Jocosta]

I agree, the selection has some ok movies, but when I go to search, 80% of the time its only on disc.

[YodaCracker]

Hopefully with the extra money they'll be able to license a lot more content for instant streaming.

[kaveti6616]

No, if that was the case then they would charge us a few more bucks for streaming only and begin to add the current DVD-only offering into the streaming plan.

As with any institution of Capitalism, Netflix is hiking the prices primarily because the company needs to keep expanding and growing and earning more revenue every quarter so that the share price goes up, the shareholders are happy, and the CEO, CFO, CTO, and COO and the boardmembers can purchase expensive cars that we can only dream of.

There is no other reason.

And if the movie studios are raising the prices of the content licenses, then that just means the corporate fat cats for those studios need to make more money so they can buy more shit. It's an endless cycle of greed. Not NEEDS, but WANTS.

[dgonza40]

aGreed.

Greed will be their downfall..
eventualy ppl will find a better way of watching movies and they will be blockbuster

[kornbeaner]

HuluPlus + Redbox for me

[Arthas]

From my experience with HuluPlus i'd only say its decent. Ive gotten alot more from Netflix streaming than I have from H+. They just need a larger selection of things people give a shit about. I mean really, who cares about old reruns of 21 Jump Street and Alf?
And just so everyone knows, I'm still an H+ subscriber but it's just not cutting it.

[kornbeaner]

They tend to have what I watch on Hulu. I saw all 7 seasons of "The Office", I watch Law and Order:SVU and L.A. and a bunch of shows from Fox, like Masterchef, House, family guy and more. Don't know where you get that all they have is Alf and 21 Jump street? but I guess. plus whatever can't be found on Hulu can be found through a ton of websites for download.

[Arthas]

Hahaha, kornbeaner... Sounds pretty offensive.
But srsly. I know they have a few good shows on there but that's just it, It's only a few. Considering its subscription based AND there are commercials we should have more to choose from. At least add new content semi frequently.
I'm also watching law and order as we speak, but on Netflix. One good thing about H+ is that the new shows they have available stay current as new episodes are aired. Don't get me wrong. I somewhat like huluplus, I'm even routing for it, but I just haven't seen much progress from them. Very few new shows and, more and more commercials are added all the time.

[kornbeaner]

not offensive or defensive. Just saying, to each their own. H+ seems to fit my needs, they seems to have more than what I have time to watch, so its a win for me. I'm not much for watching a ton of shows at once, I tend to game more than watch shows and the shows I do tend to watch are on Hulu so how can I go wrong?

[forsakenskys]

What a rip off we have been using $7.99 with one disk now there going to do this.

[danielle007]

I really don't know if I'll continue having Netflix with this nonsense.

[lochdoun]

Netflix isn't a greedy company out to get you.

This is simply a result of increasing postage costs, material/physical media costs, streaming licensing costs and bandwith costs.

Obviously having more users than before increases these costs. It's economics, people.

[Arthas]

keep believing that.

[mastiffchild]

So if they had FEWER users and lower profits they could offer more? What? They're either crap at making deals and are being bent over or expect us to-or both. That's capitalism all round.

Makes me ,kind of glad that my illnesses make it impossible for me to copnsider watching anything for longer than five minutes any more(not really but you get what I mean-not being able to concentrate on something i'm merely watching or reading is killing me and making me a bitter panda, erm,Mastiff thing).

[bozebo]

Obviously having more users than before increases these costs.

Er... no, it's called economies of scale. It does the OPPOSITE of what you say - unless they are losing money for every customer but that won't be possible.

[SwiftShot]

Switched to only streaming for now.

[maniacmayhem]

Netflix just added all seasons of the Power Rangers. From Mighty Morphin down to RPM!

TOO RIGHT!

[RioKing]

GAAAAY!

[thebudgetgamer]

yea i just got the email and cut the dvd option.

[RioKing]

Their facebook is receiving some negative attention right now haha.

[ddelella]

Funny how I haven't been notified about this from Netflix. If they don't grandfather the current plan users then it looks like netflix will be getting the boot. Sad to see how many subscribers they will loose.

[PooEgg]

They have not told me yet either, but when I looked at my account page they have a note that the price will change Sept. 1.

I've been with them since 2003, and now I am thinking of canceling.

[XabiDaChosenOne]

Just when I was about to subscribe because of the thieveiry that is cable television. Sigh...the way things are going, might have to resort to reading for entertainment. *shivers

[ElementX]

Hey now, don't diss books! I've read hundreds of books and in some ways they are better than gaming.

[mastiffchild]

Ye, books are the ULTIMATE artform. The novel is the very highest place we can go to to create-and that's coming from me, a musician. The saddest thing in my life is that I can no longer concentrate well enough to read great books and I'd trade it for my ability to play games in a heartbeat. I just get to the bottom of a page and have no idea what I just read and considering i could formerely read the likes of Crime and Punishment in two sittings over a weekend it some fall from grace.

I'm a go cry sum moar now.

[meatnormous]

I checked my email and have no such notification.

[ViserysTargaryen]

Check it again. Just got mine.

[meatnormous]

I did check it again and it was there. Its gonna be 17.99 a month for now on starting in september.

[TheCryptKeeper]

i could careless, what i do care about is the garbage UI we're still dealing with when they gave PS3 users a downgrade.

i want the option to browse by genre again.

[ElementX]

I have the $7.99 streaming option. I've been watching every episode of Cheers! Only 40 left to go! :) They have a lot of television shows I missed and I can watch them all without having to wait for a DVD in the mail. Netflix also has a pretty decent variety of streaming movies.

On a side note, I think the 360 Netflix UI is much better than the PS3.

[ViserysTargaryen]

I'm paying $23.99 for their unlimited streaming and (unlimited) 3 disks blurays out service. With this new pricing structure it's going to cost me $27 a month.

F-you Netflix, between the 30 days delay in new releases and the constantly decline in the value of their service it's time to pull the plug, and I've been maintaining my membership for years.

[Eiffel]

Step onto the boat matey.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[LoganX]

Was Kotick named the new CEO of Netflix?

[Knightofelemia]

Netflix in Canada sucks you cannot find half the movies I can find Terminator 2 but I cannot find the other 3 Terminators. Robocop is not avalible they are selective on what they show I look for something I see a DVD case of the movie saying not avaliable. Plus some of the movies really show their age like watching a VHS tape on an HD tv. I already called and cancelled my Nextflix account I only get movies from BlockBuster, XBL, or PSN.

[kamakaz3md]

smart move, cause netflix knows people will still use it. I dont ever rent thru the mail often anyways... streaming is fine with me, there are SOME decent movies on there i guess

[Silentmerc3nary]

I've being doing the whole "streaming only" option for the past year for 8 bucks. Nothing new.

[danielle007]

Really? You don't see the new part about this whole nonsense?

.. You made the choice to have streaming only. Now people with the streaming + dvd out plans have no choice.

[air1]

Most of the movies you can stream are old... It's been a while since I been on Netflix but can you stream the newer movies that you can only get on DVD? If so I'm done with discs, guess I can check for my self tomorrow.

[PooEgg]

They have added a few newer TV shows and movies, and a lot of anime, but still about 80 percent of the streaming stuff is crap.

I keep hoping for an option where they allow you to click on a movie and remove it from your choices to make it easier to weed through all the crap, but if they ever did that it would probably make it too obvious how little decent content they actually have available to stream.

[Soldierone]

With this new deal they should see more money going into their pockets allowing them to make deals to offer newer movies.

They are currently not allowed to offer "new" movies due to greedy hollywood restrictions.

[HaVoK308]

Netflix is learning from Game Publishers. How can I fuck over our customers for greed!

They will certainly be getting less money from me. Not like its hard to find a movie or tv show online. Fuck'm

[ATiElite]

actually Netflix is gonna have to increase prices across the board because their contracts with movie studios are running out so now the movie studios are gonna renegotiate and charge Netflix more to use their movie catalogs.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/0...

[barb_wire]

And that's where the rub is - depending on how much Netflix has to pay for the studio's content, don't be shocked in the near future that prices will have to go up again.

I've been reading about it on Deadline.com seems the studios' are about to hammer Netflix with huge fees for their catalogs and if I was reading it right, Netflix will have to pay even more to get newer movies for streaming only.

Wouldn't surprise me in the least, if over the next few months the Studios announce their own individual streaming services. I know that WB and Paramount were interested in doing it.

[HaVoK308]

If that is true they would be wise to include that reasoning in the emails they are currently sending their customers.

They realized...oh shit...our customers are getting too good of deal here.

[trenso1]

im really hating this right now i use both the dvds and streaming. i can only see this being a good thing if they add WAY more movies to the stream cause right not streaming is crappy with all the good movies on dvd

[Ethereal]

digging themselves into a hole.

[SwampCroc]

I don't really understand the fuss.. I mean the Netflix streaming is more than enough to keep any normal person satisfied.. Sure it doesn't have everything and is updated every now and then.

But I have only ever had just the "Streaming" Option I've never rented actual DVD's from Netflix before..

It doesn't make sense to seperate the bundle.. if they wanted to increase they should have just increased the bundle.. I mean I guess if people use both than I can see how they could be upset...

But seriously do you need both??? I mean you can't watch the DVD if your Streaming a movie... and you can't Stream a movie if your watching the dvd... console speaking..

it's not like you are going to watch 2 movies at one time... but if it's $7.99 for streaming.. I don't think it should be $7.99 for just 1 dvd unlimited.. it should be like $4.50 for 1 DVD.. maybe like $8 for 2.. something like that.. I dunno like I said I've had Netflix for awhile now and I've only ever used the streaming option..

so it doesn't affect me.

[PooEgg]

The fact is they are raising the price around 60% for anyone who currently uses both options. Sure it is only a few extra dollars a month, but imagine if everyone decided to raise their prices 60%. You'd have a bloody riot on your hands, so why should Netflix be entitled to such a extravagant rate hike? This whole thing makes them look really bad.

Additionally there is the whole issue with Sony pulling their movie streams off of Netflix, so that makes Netflix's streaming library even less attractive than it already is.

[PooEgg]

I have to take back my 60% comment, because it is actually not quite that much.

My current fee is 11.99 and they are raising it 5.99 to 17.98.

What I find more interesting is this article which talks about studios playing hardball and pulling their movies.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/0...

Do I really want to pay more for Netflix streaming, when studios are pulling their movies off of it? Will the price hike fix this?

[topekomsi]

FVCK that, I will drop the dvd's and gladly drive to redbox.

[akaFullMetal]

looks like im cancelling my dvd option then. wtf netflix.

[iceman2885]

Ok...whats the deal, I've read several posters above say they had streaming and 1 dvd for $7.99 per month, yet when I signed up the only options were streaming only for $7.99 and $9.99 for streaming+dvds.

Either people are full of lies or they were god fathered into an earlier deal/price.

Regardless, I don't see what all the fuss is about since I'm paying the same price for the same service as I always have.

[rob6021]

I was about to resub back into netflix, but looks like that's not happening any time soon, the 1 dvd out + streaming was what I liked.

[cr33ping_death]

when i had the 1 dvd/streaming... i never used the dvd part so i changed it to the streaming only service so no change for me.

[bredstick65]

Fu next flix. I see no value now. Raising a dollar or two I can understand but almost $20 a month for blue-ray and crappy streaming titles?

There are other options. Do you think that the youth of the world will not share all the many different ways people can get their content?

I just hooked my parents TV up to a netbook and set their favorites. They are cancelling tomorrow.

In a way I should thank you. You will be saving me and my parents your monthly fee's. And I will not have to spend hours looking for something worth watching on your crappy streaming.

[BinaryMind]

I live in Canada. This affects me none. Hopefully we will finally get a decent streaming library now.

[herukuti]

new to netflix much this change occurred like 3 months or more ago.

[Soldierone]

The title couldn't be any more misleading....Netflix needs to make money somehow. Everyone complains "oh get this movie, make this deal, get things faster" well guess what? That takes money. Netflix has to take money out of their pocket to give to the distributors to have it offered on their service.

You all know for a fact the price wasn't going to stay. They were introducing a new product...how do you get people to try it? You tack it on an already popular product. Its simple business tactics. now you tasted it and eithe you want it and will pay for it, or not. End of story.

Personally the only reason we signed up with them is for streaming, half the time we forget we even get the dvd/blu ray....We use Redbox and online rentals for new movies.

[luiti1]

thats why we got hd-pvr :)

[unicronic]

Doesn't really matter given most of the world still can't use Netflix.

[Robotronfiend]

Seems like this is a reaction to the news that a group of movie studios intends to increase the licensing fees they charge Netflix by 10. I believe last year Netflix paid about 120 million for licensing, and this group of studios released a statement saying they want to charge 1 billion for the licensing on their next contract. Seems like posturing and a negotiation tactic rather than a serious price increase. Regardless, it looks as if everyone will be paying more very soon.

[BabyTownFrolics]

sucks, it will cost me an extra 4.00 a month to keep my plan of unlimited streaming and 3 discs out.

i use the discs pretty frequently. I like rare hard to find movies and netflix has plenty of those. I rip all the movies I like from the discs I get from netflix, so I guess I am saving money in that sense. still sucks though.

form reading about the issue online it seems that the licensing fees are increasing due to the success netflix has had.

[JeffGUNZ]

I don't like the price hike and change in packages. I believe the loyal subscribers should have been grandfathered in and everyone else who joins from now on would have to pick one of the new packages. I do about 95% of my netflix through streaming, but I do enjoy the disk because I can actually see a GOOD NEW movie that has just been released. Not sure what I plan on doing, I may just do the streaming only. Since this is now the case, they better start updating and making their streaming content modern.

[alcapwn180]

Idea. DO streaming only and go rent that one movie at a redbox or where you can go and rent. That is what I do sometimes. I do streaming for all the old tv shows and movies.

[TBONEJF]

Going to cancel my streaming services and back to DVD. And besides they don't have a lot of movies you can stream on Netflix any way most of it is new releases and some old ones you can't find on their streaming dept.

[ShadowKingx]

every fuckin company is looking to squeeze more money out the fuckin customer. isnt what we pay enough already. first sony with psn pass, COD Elite feature for better stuff, now netflix. keep on asking for more and more money and it will lead to have no customers at all.

"oh since we have all consoles streaming our service we need to charge for it"

this was one of the nice features to be paying for with dvds coming in the mail not to mention we have to 30 days to even get new release. sorry i take that 7.99 and get blockbuster and get the new releases on first day.

[Morgue]

Cry me a river you guy's really?

[SnukaTheMan]

my whole family watches movies on our xboxes.....I only had one time where it said to many devices were being used.....

[alcapwn180]

Yea I have friends and me using my account. Probably not what Netflix wants BUT can't do much about it.

[Valk]

They've had the 7.99 stream only option for months. DVD rentals went up to 19.99 for just 1 movie which use to be 9.99.

Title is wrong and article is misleading. Whoever wrote it clearly never used Netflix to know how it worked before and has no clue now.

[Valk]

and some random idiot is also clueless it seems.

Sad that everything i said was completely 100% true, yet you found it impossible to agree.

Kinda pathetic really. I could post the sky is blue and some moron will find it impossible to agree

[jagstatboy]

soon Netflix will require you to connect to the Internet to play DVDs and then charge you extra of you want to watch deleted scenes.

[alcapwn180]

Okay. I already pay 7.99 for streaming only because if I want to watch a new movie I will buy it. Old movie I will just download it or get it for cheap at the store I work at. Honestly Netflix does make a good amount of money but you gotta understand that streaming is the future and that is not cheap. They are paying Millions upon millions to try and get us the newest and best stuff for TV and movies.

[ironcreed]

I just joined a few weeks ago because I thought it was such a great deal for both services. I'll probably just cancel altogether come next month and just go back to ordering a movie on PPV every now and then.

[Fire1792]

All my brothers and I do is stream movies through the Ps3....so ya it's not a big change for me....