The Much Feared Netflix Price Hike Is Finally Happening, But With A Positive Twist

The time has come for people to grab their pitchforks and torches, flood the streets and demand a change. No, not because of political or economic injustice or actual tyranny. We need to rise up because Netflix is officially raising their prices again.

That’s right, the event that had people writing strongly worded posts on Tumblr and defiantly cancelling their subscription until that boring weekend at their parent’s house may be happening again. Luckily folks that are already using the service aren’t affected, yet. From AV Club:

Citing the desire to continue “improving the content selection on Netflix and broadening it,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced today that the company will likely increase the prices for its streaming services by $1 or $2 per month, sometime “later this quarter.” However, as a reward for existing customers who have remained loyal to Netflix, often to the detriment of their hygiene and interpersonal relationships, Hastings said current subscribers will be able to keep their $7.99-a-month price for a “generous time period” after prices for new customers go up.

A generous time period sounds great. That’ll give people plenty of time to sharpen their axes and proofread their angry Medium posts about how Netflix is dead. But wait, there’s more! From Deadline:

CEO Reed Hastings told analysts that the likely price increase is due to the fact that “over the last couple of years we’ve been improving the content selection on Netflix and broadening it.” For that to continue, “we have to eventually increase prices a little bit.” He’d consider having tiers of service but first wants to “be sure we grandfather [existing customers into the new system] cleanly.”

All poorly written jokes aside, it seems like they are trying to handle the inevitable with as much grace as they can. Will people still complain? You better believe it. But with the rise in quality of their original programming, you have to expect that the price of the service is going to rise.

Sure a bulk of the streaming library is comprised of pure sh*t put to film, but there’s also a lot of good strewn in there and that good costs. I personally didn’t throw a fit the last time they raised the prices and I don’t think I will this time around. It’s a fantastic service and I don’t know what I ever did without it. We love you Netflix. Netflix is good to us. Submit…submit…

(Via AV Club / Deadline)

×