
Netflix will raise streaming prices for new members this quarter - mikkelewis
http://gigaom.com/2014/04/21/netflix-will-raise-streaming-prices-for-new-members-this-quarter/
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mmanfrin
I think this has been a long time coming. $8 a month is very, very cheap for
legal streaming video. Single episodes cost $2 or $3 when bought outright, and
Hulu Plus exists at the same price point but with a tremendous amount of ads
(getting near to broadcast-level). It has been an absolute bargain for a
while, and will remain so at $10/m, in my mind.

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toomuchtodo
> $8 a month is very, very cheap for legal streaming video.

Media pricing is subjective. Yes, its cheaper than buying outright on iTunes;
but its still more expensive that pirating it. It'll make a great pricing
experiment.

Everyone values content differently.

EDIT: Easy on the downvotes y'all. _I_ don't pirate my content, I'm saying
people _will_.

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chc
Any price is more expensive than pirating it. Nobody is going to compete with
piracy on price.

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jpollock
Actually, there are substantial secondary benefits to going legal. Giving back
to the creator, guaranteed quality, avoiding legal entanglements, cheaper
traffic, higher speeds, etc. All things that aren't typically offered by
pirated content providers.

The problem is that legal sources have issues around trying to controlling
when/where/how the content is viewed, which might be the majority of the value
in the media (over and above the content itself).

~~~
toomuchtodo
> Giving back to the creator

Does the creator truly win out when the content is paid for? I'm using music
as an example; not sure how its panning out on the Netflix/video side.

> guaranteed quality

Can you always reliably get 1080p from Netflix? Because you can from TPB.

> avoiding legal entanglements

Which is now a moot point considering the number of judges who have indicated
that an IP address in a log can't be tied to a specific end user.

> cheaper traffic, higher speeds

Again, as with quality, I think this depends on your ISP. You'll only get
frustrated so many times with Netflix rendition switching or buffering before
you'll fire up your bittorrent client, let it suck down 10-20 episodes, and
watch at your leisure.

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ch4s3
I understand the price hike, but Netflix feels like its value to me as a media
consumer is stagnating. House of Cards and a bit of laziness is why I've kept
it, but I consider ditching it whenever I'm reminded of the fact that I pay
for it.

If they want to survive they need to do 3 things imho: 1\. Improve their
recommendation algorithm 2\. More high quality original series (preferably
without extorting Maryland for its arts funding) 3\. Stop losing quality
content

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r00fus
Netflix's problem is that they can't prevent #3 - case in point, my daughter
discovered Ponyo on Netflix which was possible through NF's agreement with
Starz. At some point Starz refused to give Netflix a license to their
licensable content (i.e., to many Disney titles in this case) at _any_ cost.

Of course, we now own the video as it's highly rewatchable for the kiddo, but
I wouldn't doubt that Neflix would have happily paid ever increasing content
costs to a point but their supplier cut them off because they felt Netflix was
competing with them.

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Drizzle_Returns
Well Stars would have made a deal with Netflix however they wanted tiered
pricing and Netflix said no. The Stars deal also didn't include enough money.
$300 million a year is not a lot when compared to Dreamworks deal where they
get $30 million per movie.

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ChrisLTD
I'm bearish on Netflix because...

a) Everyone and their sister seems to have the technology for a streaming
video service.

b) They have no shortage of big name competitors like Amazon, Hulu, and Vudu.

c) Content companies that provide the bulk of value to Netflix subscribers can
keep raising their licensing fees until Netflix is left with zero profit.

~~~
opendais
Hulu -> Ads Vudu -> Don't you have to pay way more than $7.99 if you watch a
few shows/videos a month? Amazon -> Honestly, not impressed unless they start
making it work on all platforms.

That said, I think C is always going to be the anchor that drags Netflix down
which is why they started generating their own catalog. If they can get up to
a HBO quality of selection/service on their current model...with the same
level of original programming...who wouldn't pay $120/year for streaming
everything HBO has?

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chockablock
>who wouldn't pay $120/year for streaming everything HBO has?

For me, the appeal of Netflix in the DVD-by-mail era was a large _complete-
feeling_ catalog of movies. They have not been able to recreate that
experience in the streaming era, which is why they lost me as a customer a
couple years back (replaced by a la carte rentals from iTunes, and a great
local video store).

They indeed seem to have decided to become another HBO, with "must-watch"
original content, but that feels like a very different business, and one that
is a lot more difficult to dominate--they will always be one of many channels,
instead of being the platform.

IRONIC, SAD EDIT: That great local video store is in trouble (
[https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/save-le-video-a-sf-
film-i...](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/save-le-video-a-sf-film-
institution#home) )

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yeukhon
I am not against raising $1 or $2. The service has been incredibly stable and
fast for me, even when my internet speed was slow.

I love how they now make "Netflix original series." I hope they can release
more of that with partner studios. More.

Regarding movies collections: please work harder to convince the industry to
load contents over streaming. I don't care about owning a digital copy. I
don't care about the whole Netflix DRM. I don't want to own that copy. I used
to own many CDs and DVDs and they are just sitting there wasting space (I do
care about owning my digital books I purchase, I want to own that PDF).

I just want to be able to click and watch on a monthly subscription. I am okay
with new movies shown only at theater and streaming after theater. I am fine
with that; I still love theater.

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rdl
I wonder how much this will bump new subscribers before it takes effect.

I guess it's Pingdom and Founders Card who took the "escalating price
grandfathered-subscription model" to the limit, but it might be interesting if
Netflix committed to roughly the same thing.

(with FC, it started out as $99/yr renewable at that price indefinitely for
~$300 in benefits, and went up $50 every half-year along with increased
benefits; it's now about $400/yr and maybe $400-600/yr in value).

This might be an interesting model for SaaS startups, and is sort of related
to the kickstarter "50 units at early adopter discount" model of tiered
pricing.

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shirro
The thing I find most interesting about a service like Netflix is the complete
inversion of costs of product and delivery for someone in Australia. A monthly
Netflix subscription costs less than a couple of coffees here. The data caps
on Internet connections and the inaction of successive governments to address
market failures means I could pay hundreds of dollars a month to stream a
service like Netflix. It can be quite a lot cheaper to buy box sets of shows
or take out a cable tv subscription than pay data costs but you don't get the
same flexibility.

I thought the towns local video store would have followed others around the
world into bankruptcy by now but they are still charging $7 for an overnight
rental and still have customers.

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silveira
As expected. Comcast shakes Netflix for more money, Netflix then forwards the
bill to customers.

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bertil
I’m surprised that the quotes, and graphics (unsourced, but presumably
provided by Netflix) insist on the international dimension of that decision —
and yet, no-one in this discussion mentions that point. Netflix is roughly the
same price in countries with different standards of living, and such an
evolution is most likely going to mean adapting — and more cross-frontier
purchases. I’m already doing it: I first booked Netflix in one country; moved
and kept my orignal subscription, out of laziness to be honest, but it would
have been expensive to switch.

About outright piracy: all the shows available on Netflix are available
‘elsewhere’, and many here (me included) have previously expressed their
frustration of local limits for certain shows when one travels. Paying for
Netflix is made out of convenience and respect for the economics of video
creation: I don’t think a price-hike, combined with announces about investment
in new content, will trigger that many pirates. At least, I hope I’m not wrong
about that.

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kbar13
Look, if it's possible to pay under $20 a month for unlimited downloading from
a usenet provider, and take advantage of existing services to stream media to
almost all devices, is it really worth it to pay Netflix for a subpar library?

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biot
As a developer who expects people to pay me for the software that I create for
them and not just take advantage of me, I have no problem rewarding content
creators for the entertainment they provide. My Netflix subscription probably
works out to be about 25 cents per movie / TV show that I watch. I'm as little
interested in pirating this content as I would be paying someone who works at
a movie theater $20/month to sneak me in through the back door.

It's a good product. They ask a fair price. I'm happy for them to take my
money. Amazon, Redbox, and movie theaters also take my money when I want
something Netflix doesn't offer.

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kbar13
I have no problem paying people for content. However, if I'm not able to get
the content I want, I don't feel as good.

The problem isn't trying to save money. It's accessibility.

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bluedevil2k
I'd be really curious to see an aggregate demand curve for Netflix. Find out
its elasticity and see how much price increases help/hurt its revenue.
Personally, I think I would pay up to $30/month for it.

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jerf
I mostly use Netflix + Amazon, where I rent movies or buy recent TV episodes
from Amazon for a small fee and use Netflix for general exploration and
children's programming. If Netflix could offer me the rentals and TV episodes
for an additional fee, I'd happily use it... I generally prefer their
experience over Amazon's, and Netflix is rock solid for me vs. Amazon's
occasional failures at prime time (YMMV, of course). But they've really bought
into this "one fee for everything" model, and, well, I guess that made sense
three or four years ago, but I fear it may be the hill they die on. Instead
they seem to prefer some sort of ideological purity and for more of my money
to go to Amazon every month, even though I actually spend more clock time with
Netflix.

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cm2012
Good! If they doubled the price and the content I would be thrilled. For 80%
of Americans, netflix is a negligibe expense.

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aaronchriscohen
#ComcastTax

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volune
Why discriminate against new customers? It doesn't seem like a good business
case.

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bluedevil2k
Getting a new customer is always more expensive than keeping a current
customer - it makes good business sense then, to cover the added cost.

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BigBadBionicBoy
To raise prices when apps like popcorn time come around and threaten your very
existence seems like the height of stupidity to me.

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minimaxir
I can guarantee that Netflix's primary demographic will not think "oh, Netflix
raised its prices by a dollar, let's do piracy!"

