Let the throttling begin: Netflix raising prices almost double in Sept

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Just noticed Netflix was started enforcing streaming device limits (ie how many devices at once can stream) Guess this is so they can push their "family plan" is that is rumored

Netflix just announced that they are raising the price of their plans. They are splitting off the streaming and non streaming plans.

Stream only will cost $7.99 with no disc option
DVD only with no stream will be $7.99

Both 1 disc out at a time and stream will be $15.98. More discs out raise price more

edited to add more price
2 disc only $11.99

2disc with stream $19.98
3 disc with stream $24.99
4 Disc with stream $29.99

STAYS THE SAME
1 Disc out (2 max per month) $4.99
 
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@arcane93: Technically I would be changing plans from 3 DVDs at a time plus streaming to just 3 DVDs, but the streaming was forced on me. I have dial-up and have never been able to stream anything so, as far as I'm concerned, it's the same plan.
 
[quote name='ragtop70']@arcane93: Technically I would be changing plans from 3 DVDs at a time plus streaming to just 3 DVDs, but the streaming was forced on me. I have dial-up and have never been able to stream anything so, as far as I'm concerned, it's the same plan.[/QUOTE]

Ah, ok, makes sense. You're one of the few people who is actually going to benefit from this move then. :)

(Well, at least until Netflix tries to kill their disc program, anyway.)
 
I think a lot of people will benefit from it actually. Forums are skewed since people that post on them are tech savvy (and younger) and likely to be using streaming.

A lot of my family (parents, uncles etc.) are benefiting from it as they only used the disc rentals. So there are lots of older members etc. out there who aren't big internet users etc. that never streamed and can save a couple of bucks now.

Many of the articles about the price change quoted Netflix officials as saying it was more due to disc rental demand remaining higher than they anticipated than it was the streaming content. i.e. far fewer switched to streaming only than they thought. I don't see how they were surprised, most people mainly rent new releases and you can't get those on streaming. And then you have the big chunk of the population that still lacks broad band and/or just isn't tech savvy enough to know what types of things to buy to stream Netflix on their TVs etc.
 
I can still remember back in the EARLY 80's, going to rent crappy VHS movies at our local video store with my dad for I believe $4 per night.
I don't think some people realize how good they have it now with services like netflix.
 
[quote name='sunnysky']I can still remember back in the EARLY 80's, going to rent crappy VHS movies at our local video store with my dad for I believe $4 per night.
I don't think some people realize how good they have it now with services like netflix.[/QUOTE]
We would rent from the video section of a local grocery store from the late 80s to the mid 90s, always on Mondays (or Thursdays, I forget which) as that was $1 rental night.
 
[quote name='guardian_owl']We would rent from the video section of a local grocery store from the late 80s to the mid 90s, always on Mondays (or Thursdays, I forget which) as that was $1 rental night.[/QUOTE]

I grew up in a small town that just had two mom and pop video stores.

New releases were $3-4 (changed over the years) for two nights I think. Older movies were $1-2 bucks.

I do think one of the local grocery stores rented videos too, but I think prices where about the same.
 
I just got the 1 out at my local BBV. It's 23 bucks after tax a month but it includes games/dvd/blu-ray and I can return and get something new as much as I want. I can get 10 movies in one day if I want, just have to bring back it back to get another. It's a bit more, but much more convenient and I don't have to wait on the mail.
 
Dropped netflix discs and went with Blockbuster. Excited to get some games! I did keep streaming though.
 
For the most part, this hasn't really bothered me much.
Until today when I looked in my instant watch Queue.
Holy crap have they dropped a hell of a lot of content lately.
I'd say about 15% of my stuff is now unavailable in instant watch.
I still have no interest in dropping Netflix. However if this is any sign of what we have to look forward to, and if Amazon is somehow able to secure more content for prime members, Maybe Netflix is in a bit of trouble.
 
I remember back in the day there was an appliance store that rented new VHS movies for $1 a day and old rentals were .50. They had probably 2-3000 movies to choose from. I miss that place.

What's worse is about 10 minutes from my house there was a huge rental store that closed in probably 1996 or 97, but all of those tapes are still in there, even the old faded posters are still on display. I would pay a lot if someone would let me go in there and get a chance to buy some of those movies because I guarantee they have some rarities.
 
[quote name='mr_bungle']I remember back in the day there was an appliance store that rented new VHS movies for $1 a day and old rentals were .50. They had probably 2-3000 movies to choose from. I miss that place.

What's worse is about 10 minutes from my house there was a huge rental store that closed in probably 1996 or 97, but all of those tapes are still in there, even the old faded posters are still on display. I would pay a lot if someone would let me go in there and get a chance to buy some of those movies because I guarantee they have some rarities.[/QUOTE]

That sounds awesome. Is there a for sale/for rent sign anywhere on the property? You could probably call them and bribe them to let you in the store if it's abandoned.
 
Decided to keep Netflix for Streaming and move to blockbuster for Blu Rays. Does anyone know the timeframe for the rentals that you get when you exchange in store since they are unlimited now. For example, if I exchange a movie for another blu ray in store, is the one from the store now due on the next days since blockbuster store rentals are on a daily basis now ?
 
[quote name='maxim2boobles']I'm going with amazon instant because its $40 year and its a WA company[/QUOTE]

Their selection sucks compared to netflix
 
[quote name='AdvOfJet']Decided to keep Netflix for Streaming and move to blockbuster for Blu Rays. Does anyone know the timeframe for the rentals that you get when you exchange in store since they are unlimited now. For example, if I exchange a movie for another blu ray in store, is the one from the store now due on the next days since blockbuster store rentals are on a daily basis now ?[/QUOTE]

I think the ones you pick up from the store are just like you're mail rentals. You can keep them as long as you want, but they won't mail you another disc until you return it.
 
[quote name='AsherFischell']That sounds awesome. Is there a for sale/for rent sign anywhere on the property? You could probably call them and bribe them to let you in the store if it's abandoned.[/QUOTE]

There is no for sale/rent sign on there. And it really is a mystery as to what exactly happened there. This was back when rental stores were booming, I think there were probably 4 in my hometown and it's a small 4k population town in northern MS. You'd think one of those places would've taken the excess stock, because that's what they did when the others started closing.
 
You guys still HAVE Blockbuster stores? Most of the ones in my area have closed by now.

As far as Netflix goes, I'm probably going to keep the streaming and ditch the discs. Right now, I'm still plenty happy with what Netflix has on streaming. I'm using it for TV shows primarily at the moment, and I've got four or five lined up in my head to watch after I'm done with Doctor Who. :)

[quote name='ssjmichael']Their selection sucks compared to netflix[/QUOTE]

Yep. From what I've seen, Amazon isn't even CLOSE to a replacement for Netflix streaming. Between the lack of (good) content and Amazon's nonexistent console streaming, Netflix still wins out for me.
 
Well netflix just got worse for me. I never use the discs so I was going to convert to a stream only plan at the end of the month. My dtr was watching dora or something on my ipod and went to fire up my 360 when I got the message saying I could only play one movie at a time. I realize in theory there has always been a limit (1disc=1stream, 2 discs=2 and so on) but it was not enforced. Now just in time for the price increase they are throttling streaming. Think I will just use hulu plus and blockbuster online with redbox
 
[quote name='mr_bungle']There is no for sale/rent sign on there. And it really is a mystery as to what exactly happened there.[/QUOTE]

Head on down to City Hall and ask them who owns it.
If you can't get any help there, you can always go to the County Office and ask for the deed.

I've been granted access to a few abandoned places by getting the information and simply asking the owners. You might be asked to sign a waver depending on the condition of the place though.
 
The beginning of the end?

Starz walks out on Netflix streaming talks

Starz Entertainment said it had ended talks with Netflix over rewewing an agreement to stream Starz content, after the two failed to reach a deal. In a statement released late Thursday, Starz said its agreement with Netflix to stream Starz content would end on Feb. 28, 2012.
The news comes on the same day Netflix began raising prices for its customer who use its streaming service and get DVDs by mail.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the deal broke down as media companies fear that Netflix’s growing clout will eat into their customers and advertising dollars.

“This decision is a result of our strategy to protect the premium nature of our brand by preserving the appropriate pricing and packaging of our exclusive and highly valuable content,” Starz said in a statement.
It could be a major blow for Netflix. Under the Starz deal, Netflix gets about 1,000 movies including some from big-name partners such as Disney and Sony. In addition, the company provides about 1,500 TV episodes and other types of content.
Netflix had been expected to work out a new contract with Starz, although at a much higher price than the estimated $30 million a year that it had been paying under the current contract. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings acknowledged earlier this year that he wouldn't be surprised if the company paid as much as $250 million a year to retain the Starz rights when the current contract expired.


Netflix said it would spend the $250 million Hastings had earmarked for the Starz renewal to buy audience-pleasing content from other distributors. Hastings has left no doubt that he intends to invest heavily in Netflix's Internet video library because he wants more subscribers to use that option. That would allow Netflix to cut postage and other costs to mail DVD rentals to its customers.
Starz's decision to end the talks with Netflix underscores the escalating tensions with pay-TV services that view Netflix's popularity as a competitive threat. Time Warner Inc.'s HBO has consistently refused to license its shows for Netflix streaming, and Showtime recently has declined to make some of its top series, including "Dexter" and "Californication" available to the service.
Click to expand...
 
[quote name='sunnysky']
Holy crap have they dropped a hell of a lot of content lately.
.[/QUOTE]

It's really bad how much they dropped right around the time the prices go up. Plus it seems to be working more slowly now or something.
 
I have a feeling we are not that far away from every content provider trying to stream their own stuff for a fee... which will suck and be way too expensive to buy them all and way too limiting of a selection to buy any individually.
 
I wrote this in the other Netflix thread....



^ Starz wanted $300 million in the new deal, up from the current $30 million.

This is where Netflix gets in trouble. Subscribers bitched about the amount of content, so they bought more and had to raise prices, now people wanna cancel cause it went up. It's a vicious cycle now at this point.




But there's another big key to this, Netflix was never intended to be a solely streaming (or even largely) streaming service. It was a nice little bonus feature.

They are in a tough spot due to a couple bad decisions and factors outside their control.

With the launch of HBO Go, I fully expect most of these companies and channels to now follow suit and do the same... but they don't make money off that. And who is going to pay extra for On Demand content when they pay for the channel already? nobody.

We are in a weird transition period right now.
 
Plan to cancel streaming on Monday before my next billing cycle and stick with 2 at a time disc. Too many of the catalog TV titles and movies I wish to watch are not available on streaming.
 
i switched to BBV back when netflix announced the price increase... i've been pretty satisfied so far.. the unlimited exchange thing is good but you need to have a mailer to do a free exchange (at least at my BBV)... so i can't swap a store blu for another store blu, only a movie/game mailed to my house for a movie instore... but when you do exchange, you get the keep the movie from the store as long as you want... when you do an exchange for a game, you get the game for $4.99 for 5 days (instead of $8.99 or $9.99 whatever it is) and they will mail the next movie on you queue the next day (the game doesn't count as one of your discs) is anyone else with BBV getting to do anything different? is it a nationwide setup or are local stores taking unlimited free exchanges without the mailers (store blu for store blu)?
 
[quote name='DestroVega']I wrote this in the other Netflix thread....

^ Starz wanted $300 million in the new deal, up from the current $30 million.
[/QUOTE]

Actually Netflix offered Starz over $300 million but Starz wanted more.
 
man I am in the wrong bizness..$300 million for non-tangible bits of data..man..

yeah, the Starz things suck b/c I'd say about 80% of anything I usually watch is served up by them. Hope things get better for Netflix..
 
My plan is to cancel Netflix and go with the BB 9.99 plan. The in store stuff is AWESOME.

But my blockbuster said I could trade a mailer in for any of the .99 cent games... Not the newer release ones, but the older ones. They would be free for BB plans...
 
[quote name='ssjmichael']Actually Netflix offered Starz over $300 million but Starz wanted more.[/QUOTE]

Link to that? That's not what I read.

I read Starz wanted $300 million, 150% of the Epix deal.

Netflix was only willing to go to $250 million. (only lol)
 
[quote name='DestroVega']Link to that? That's not what I read.

I read Starz wanted $300 million, 150% of the Epix deal.

Netflix was only willing to go to $250 million. (only lol)[/QUOTE]

If you google "Starz $300 million" you should see hundreds of related articles saying Netflix offered them over $300 million. I should correct my earlier statement. I'm not sure if they wanted more money, but they wanted Netflix to create a premium streaming tier.

Here's one article about it:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/ent...lion-plus-but-starz-wanted-higher-prices.html
 
I only used Netflix to stream and I loved it for watching a lot of shows but it's not worth it anymore. New releases of decent quality are few and far in-between.
 
[quote name='ssjmichael']Actually Netflix offered Starz over $300 million but Starz wanted more.[/QUOTE]

Wow, given the crap quality of the Starz content (nothing in HD), that's ridiculous. If Starz is ultimately responsible for this price increase, than they'd better step up their game with what they're offering through Netflix.
 
$8 for streaming is a steal, even without starz they still offer thousands of hours of entertainment, even with the price increase, streaming + dvd + BR = still 90% cheaper than cable/dish/direct.
 
[quote name='simpsonps121']My plan is to cancel Netflix and go with the BB 9.99 plan. The in store stuff is AWESOME.

But my blockbuster said I could trade a mailer in for any of the .99 cent games... Not the newer release ones, but the older ones. They would be free for BB plans...[/QUOTE]

Yes. It is part of the new in-store BB promotion portion that affects the mailer customers. Note some of the 1.99 games you can get via the mail i.e. I have Homefront at home and it currently counts as a 1.99 title.

In-store they are doing any 1-out movie/game unlimited pass with 1 mailer title/month now for $15/month. The initial month is $7.50.
 
[quote name='bigdaddy']It's really bad how much they dropped right around the time the prices go up.[/QUOTE]

Erm wow, you're not kidding. I just looked at my queue on the website for the first time in a little while, and I'm shocked at how much of it has been moved out of the queue and into the "saved" section -- about 40%. I was planning to keep instant watch at the very least, but if this becomes a trend, I may have to reconsider.

I'm wondering now just how much of the content that is still in my queue is Starz content...

At this rate, Amazon will catch up not through adding more content, but through Netflix losing content.
 
[quote name='arcane93']I just looked at my queue on the website for the first time in a little while, and I'm shocked at how much of it has been moved out of the queue and into the "saved" section -- about 40%. [sic] I was planning to keep instant watch at the very least, but if this becomes a trend, I may have to reconsider.[/QUOTE]

How long have you been using the Instant service? Maybe if it's something you hadn't checked in a year or so, then you should be shocked. The availability of Instant titles has always been an issue. This should not be a surprise to anyone after three and a half years of their service. Currently, I have 318 titles in my Instant Queue with 146 in my Saved (464 total).

My complaints have been, and continue to be, the issues with the transfers of many films. Numerous times I have tried watching films with wrong audio playing, subtitles cut off or not displayed, films with missing audio, films with the last 30 minutes missing, only the first few minutes be playable, or the wrong title playing altogether.

The most recent problem I've had was trying to watch a program which had preview scenes from a Lone Ranger episode shown while fast forwarding. The 2-hour program could only be fast forwarded through the length of the single Lone Ranger episode. Trying to fast forward past that mark, brought you back to the 24 minute mark.

These are the concerns I have with the streaming service which make me second guess my subscription. Unfortunately, with this Netflix's streaming being 95% of the content I watch on my TV (no cable), there's no other service that compares. Hulu gets 3%, while Amazon's on-demand service is 2%, but neither are as fully-featured, reliable, or user-friendly as Netflix. Netflix is simply more accessible at this point.
 
[quote name='Seasick Pirate']How long have you been using the Instant service? Maybe if it's something you hadn't checked in a year or so, then you should be shocked. The availability of Instant titles has always been an issue. This should not be a surprise to anyone after three and a half years of their service. Currently, I have 318 titles in my Instant Queue with 146 in my Saved (464 total).[/QUOTE]

It's been a month or two since I last looked at it (so a little while, but not as long as a year by far), and the number of films in my "saved" queue has increased by an alarmingly large number in that time. Some of that is because of them losing the Criterion Collection titles, as I had a number of them in my queue and they're really starting to drop off now. But that doesn't account for nearly all of it.

[quote name='Seasick Pirate']My complaints have been, and continue to be, the issues with the transfers of many films. Numerous times I have tried watching films with wrong audio playing, subtitles cut off or not displayed, films with missing audio, films with the last 30 minutes missing, only the first few minutes be playable, or the wrong title playing altogether.[/QUOTE]

Wow, I haven't run into a lot of those types of problems. My biggest issues with transfers have been 1) films that have been cropped to a 4:3 ratio when that's not the original aspect ratio (which is completely ridiculous in this day and age), 2) films that aren't in HD (no excuse for films that are available on blu-ray, since there are definitely HD transfers out there -- and worse, many of the SD transfers are substandard even for SD), and 3) foreign films (particularly anime) that are dubbed rather than subbed (Netflix has the ability to offer dual audio and optional subtitles, so why don't they?).

I actually complained to Netflix about the first issue (cropping) once, and the woman that I spoke to told me that I had to "be fair to people who don't own widescreen TVs." Um, what?
 
Wife and I downgraded our account as well, prices too high to justify the amount we rent. The streaming is worth it to us, a few older shows i been watching but run into a lot of the problems others have with issues with the stream, quality, missing parts, wrong episodes, etc.
 
[quote name='token2k6']man I am in the wrong bizness..$300 million for non-tangible bits of data..man..[/QUOTE]
Buying rights to movies ain't cheap.
 
[quote name='pete5883']Buying rights to movies ain't cheap.[/QUOTE]

Yes, but buying the ability to share the rights that Starz has in terms of a LIMITED amount of time in which they can air said movies should be a lot cheaper than actually owning the rights outright.

I think it's completely unforgivable for Netflix to end up dropping so much content after the price increases and the service, supposedly, becoming more streamlined and manageable after effectively splitting direct ties to the DVD shipping side of the entire company.

I'm sure they'll come up with something in the wake of losing the Starz contract... I'm betting on the "studio" side of Netflix becoming more of a driving force in the motion picture field. I know they have their own studio (I believe their name was branded into the beginning of "Zach Galafianakis Live at the Purple Onion"... I could be mistaken) and have partially financed a number of items within their vast library of content.

ATM I still have both DVDs and streaming (I'm currently in the middle of watching the Mighty Boosh disc by disc: interesting enough to watch, but definitely not interesting enough for me to buy the discs) and I'm definitely considering dropping both and going the buy-then-sell route... and possibly using nefarious means to gain access to titles otherwise.

C'mon Netflix... don't turn me into a pirate!... ARRRGGGG.... Oh no, it's already begun!! ;)
 
With regret, I canceled my streaming account. Comcast on-demand has enough streaming content for me, and Netflix is still most useful to me with blu-rays. Kept the disc plan.
 
Definitely sucks for them to still be losing content after the price hike.

I'm keeping streaming and discs for now as I'm in the middle of watching Mad Men and considering watching Battlestar Galactica next. After that I'll probably drop streaming.

I'll keep disc rental as long as they keep offering it as I don't have a good/convenient local rental store and Redbox selection is too limited. Plus I just like getting movies in the mail and not have to hassle with taking time to pick up and return movies, dealing with due dates/times etc.
 
[quote name='MeltingPrism']Netflix should have told Starz fuck you, HBO here we go![/QUOTE]

They'd have to pay big to get HBO. Plus HBO has their own online service which I can't see them dropping anytime soon. I don't think Netflix and HBO are on really good terms either
 
According to Cnet the main problem was the fact that Starz was loosing negotiating power with the studios since the studios knew that whatever they licensed to Starz would end up on Netflix and they weren't getting as big a cut as they would if they went straight to Netflix. Starz tried to get Netflix to offer a "Premium" plan that would include the Starz content but Netflix didn't want any of that. Good for Netflix!
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']I grew up in a small town that just had two mom and pop video stores.

New releases were $3-4 (changed over the years) for two nights I think. Older movies were $1-2 bucks.

I do think one of the local grocery stores rented videos too, but I think prices where about the same.[/QUOTE]

F all y'all - I grew up when you had to "join" a video club (I think Mr.Video was a little over $150 to join) and THEN you could rent Beta or VHS tapes for like $5 for 3 nights, I think... I look back at that and laugh now.
 
[quote name='ssjmichael']Their selection sucks compared to netflix[/QUOTE]

My problem with Amazon is no Ipod support... That's the only way I get to watch movies with a 3 year old...
 
[quote name='crazedracerguy']My problem with Amazon is no Ipod support... That's the only way I get to watch movies with a 3 year old...[/QUOTE]

Someone mentioned ths at the Amazon discussion board, no idea how well it works:

http://www.amazon.com/forum/amazon ...orum=Fx3EQAX98ED5WQ3&cdThread=Tx27CL2D4F2EXOX

For anyone still following this conversation, I've had some success with Skyfire, which is an ios browser that transcodes flash video on the fly and delivers it to your iOS device as h.264. The quality is lowered, but it does work if you are looking for a way to view Amazon VOD on an iPhone.
Click to expand...
 
[quote name='ssjmichael']They'd have to pay big to get HBO. Plus HBO has their own online service which I can't see them dropping anytime soon. I don't think Netflix and HBO are on really good terms either[/QUOTE]

HBO Go is coming to consoles at some point.
 
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