I hope you have your pennies saved up, because Netflix is going to increase prices sometime in the future. In a letter to the investors, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells shared their plans to raise subscription prices for streaming services $1 or $2. The plan, which is already being tested in Ireland, is to help cover costs of licensing, allowing Netflix to go after more films and TV series in the future.
However, not everybody will see a price hike. The shareholder letter reads:
Our current view is to do a one or two dollar increase, depending on the country, later this quarter for new members only. Existing members would stay at current pricing (e.g. $7.99 in the U.S.) for a generous time period.
Only new subscribers will be subject to paying either $8.99 or $9.99 a month, depending on their location by the end of June. As made clear, pre-existing subscribers will be grandfathered in with their current fees until possible Q3 (July – September) 2014. Considering how much time we spend watching Netflix, it was only a matter of time before discussions of a price increase were brought up. Consider the extra buck or two as assurance that Netflix will get both better shows and films, but also have an increased budget to produce some more amazing original series like Orange is the New Black.
[via IGN]