Hacking NetFlix

Price Increase: Change Your Netflix Plan Before Your "Next Billing Date"

A number of blogs are reporting that you have to change your Netflix plan today to avoid the price increase, but that's only true if your "Next Billing Date" (found under "Your Account") is September 1st. Netflix recommends that you change your plan 2 days in advance of your "Next Billing Date" to make sure the plan change goes into effect.

If you're quitting or taking a Netflix vacation you should also do it 2 days in advance of your "Next Billing Date" because Netflix doesn't offer a credit for unused days. You'll have 7 days to return any DVDs you have out or you will be billed for the discs.

Netflix will save your queue(s) for up to 2 years, but if you're going to change to the streaming-only plan you should back up (print) your DVD queue because you will not be able to access it.

Your price will only go up if you're on a combined DVD & streaming plan. If you're on a streaming-only or DVD-only plan you're all set.

Here's the official Netflix blog post about the price increase from July.

Special thanks to Kyle.

Multiple Reports of Another Netflix Service Interruption

Reader Curtis and a number of people on Twitter are reporting problems with the Netflix website. I had trouble streaming on my Mac, but the Roku is working.

Is the Netflix website or streaming working for you?

Netflix Not Building App for Doomed HP webOS TouchPad

If you managed to pick up one of the super-discounted HP TouchPads, don't expect a Netflix app. The official word from Netflix is "No webOS apps for phone or tablets."

While HP is making more TouchPads, this is a limited production run and HP is not going to get back into the tablet business (via BrynaatHP). 

Netfix New Releases for August 30th, 2011

Here's the list of new releases this week (full list): Rio, Tracy Morgan: Black and Blue, Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family, Tyler Perry's Laugh to Keep from Crying, Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy, Storage Wars, Doc Martin, Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie , True Adolescents, Bereavement, The Perfect Host, Cell 211, Wrecked, X, In a Better World, Me Too, Forks Over Knives, If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, Police, Adjective, Prom, and Angelina Ballerina: The Shining Star Trophy. 

Interesting streaming titles in the past week: The Expendables, Blitz, Bodyguards and Assassins, Knockout, Shaolin Grandma, House Broken, Alpha and Omega, and The Backyardigans.

Quitting Netflix in Advance of the Price Increase? Do it 2 Days Early & Save Your Queue

With the price increase looming, several readers have asked how many days before the "Next Billing Date" (under "Your Account") they should cancel or change their membership status. A source at Netflix suggests doing this 2 days before the Next Billing Date, but not earlier because Netflix doesn't offer a refund for partial months.

If you're on a DVD plan, you need to send the discs back to Netflix within 7 days or you'll be billed for them.

If you're quitting or changing to a streaming-only plan, you should print out or save a copy of your DVD queue (ithe DVD queue not accessible on streaming-only plans).

Netflix will save your queue for up to 2 years in case you change your mind.

A special thanks to Carmie and everyone else for this story.

How Do You Get News & Emergency Information After Cutting the Cord?

Long-time reader RJEJR is worried about Hurricane Irene and is looking for good sources of information:

About 1 week ago today I dropped to basic cable, and of course now a major hurricane is bearing down on my south shore Long Island home. I'm already going thru Jim Cantore withdrawal. I was wondering what the rest of the cord cutters were doing for news, Netflix and Hulu are good for all things entertainment (well except sports of course), but not for emergency stuff, and as I said I live on the south shore of Long Island so I may be seeing Irene's eye.

I'm also in the path of Irene, and I've been watching the local news channels on cable, which are providing a lot of information (I think I saw Jim Cantore on ABC earlier), but they might be available via over-the-air in your area. I'm also keeping an eye on Weather.com and my local news websites. My town has an emergency system and has already sent out a warning email with lots of information.

Any other suggestions for RJEJR?

Roku Blog Explains Roku Player Private Channels

The Roku Player has more than 300 channels, and the Roku blog explains private channels, or channels that don't show up in the Roku Channel Store.

We are closing in on 300 unique channels this week in the Roku Channel Store. There you will find channels that range in topic from movies and TV to music, sports and special interests. However, not all channels available for Roku can be found in the  Channel Store. A significant number are published as private channels. While private channels look and feel similar to channels found in the Channel Store, they are in fact, very different.

Roku does not review or approve private channels. So why would a developer choose to release a channel as a private channel instead of submitting it to the Roku Channel Store? A few reasons:

• The channel isn’t ready for the Roku Channel Store. Developers use private channels to test their apps during the development process.
• The channel contains content not appropriate for the Roku Channel Store. An adult-oriented channel is a good example of a channel that Roku would not publish publicly.
• The channel contains content that is confidential or intended for members or employees in a specific group or company. For example, a company might develop a channel that contains training videos for franchisees.

Interesting tidbit: more than 25% of Roku users have installed a private channel.

Netflix Suffers Another Minor Streaming Outage

Earlier tonight Netflix Helps reported a minor streaming outage, as reported by NetflixHelps on Twitter.

Thanks to Noor for sending this in.

What Did You Do After the Netflix Price Increase?

Reader FearNo1 suggested a poll to follow up on what you did after the Netflix price increase. I'm curious to see the results of this poll vs. the poll we ran right after the price increase.

San Jose City Council Gives Netflix $5 Million in Tax Incentives

The San Jose Mercury News reports that Los Gatos-based Netflix will be given $5 million in tax incentives for moving the new DVD division to San Jose.

Los Gatos recently approved a 550,000-square-foot Netflix development project. Under the San Jose deal, Netflix will lease 55,000 square feet of office space at 1732 N. First Street that was formerly occupied by the city's airport administration.

Under the 5-year lease agreement, San Jose will provide Netflix payments equaling half of sales tax receipts from the company's operations in the first year, 40 percent in the second and 30 percent in the third. The incentives are to offset $1.6 million in improvements Netflix plans to make for its San Jose operation, which will employ 225. The company plans to move the DVD division Oct. 1.