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from the maybe-they-could-sell-blue-checkmarks-instead dept.
The plan is to try to force Netflix customers to pay an extra $2-$3 every month for service for any users using your credentials outside of the home. An accidentally leaked Netflix help guide last week indicated that users who don't log into their Netflix account in a 31 day period would face the new surcharges, something that didn't go over well with either users or celebrities that travel a lot.
The company was then forced to backtrack, stating the guides were posted in error, and intended for customers in countries like Chile and Peru where the crackdown had already launched. Those efforts, as we'd mentioned previously, were also reportedly a confusing mess for subscribers in those countries, who say it was never really clear how the inconsistently-enforced system actually worked.
Netflix is embracing the move because the company's growth has hit a wall internationally, forcing it to begin nickel-and-diming existing subscribers if Wall Street is to get its improved quarterly returns.
[...] The question then is: is that modest bump in revenue worth alienating and annoying your existing customers in a competitive streaming market? We're apparently going to find out.
To be clear, I still think Netflix has value at its current monthly rate, and many people who complain about the new rate hikes are lazy and likely won't cancel. On the flip side, this move remains the latest signal from the company that it's done with being innovative and disruptive and has, as publicly traded companies usually do, shifted toward nickel-and-diming and turf protection as it attempts to fend off competitors.
Previously:
Netflix Fights Password-Sharing With Test of $3 "Extra Member" Fee
Netflix to Start Testing Warnings for People Borrowing Login Info
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by crafoo on Thursday February 09, @02:58AM (3 children)
who really watches this trash? you might as well admit being an enormous pussy and just start mainlining heroin. skip to the end-game and save everyone time.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 09, @03:12AM
Your mom does. She shares her password with me so when she's over here we can netflix and chill, if you know what I mean.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Thursday February 09, @05:10PM
Look here sonny, I remember back in the day when I used to get Netflix by US Postal Mail. The young kids (who set their feet upon my lawn!) tell me: "stop lying!"
And then they write: Your Stupid!
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday February 09, @05:31PM
If you don't watch it, how do you know it's trash? Bill Nye is trash? The miniseries from Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich's Saving Capitalism is trash? WWII documentaries are trash?
And comparing it to HEROIN? WTF is wrong with you, boy?
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience