[Rumor] Netflix Price Hike Coming Soon?

Update: the rumors were true, details on this post.

A source at Netflix, plus an interesting discussion on Reddit, are hinting that big news brewing at Netflix. One rumor I'm hearing is a price hike, but no official word from Netflix yet.

Engadget is running a rumor that the $9.99 per month DVD & streaming plan would be raised to $15.98 per month, which would help Netflix pay for the new streaming content deals. Engadet's tipster says that the change will come tomorrow night by email.

The new $7.99 per month DVD-only unlimited plan is starting to make sense as an option for customers that want to keep getting DVDs, but don't care about streaming. If this new pricing is correct, there will be separate $7.99 plans for unlimited streaming or DVDs, and a combined plan for $15.98. This new pricing makes me wonder if they're going to raise the $7.99 streaming-only or DVD plans to $9.99 per month as well.

User Myyystery12 on Reddit posted the following, which should be considered a rumor at this stage:

A friend works at Netflix. Said they had a 30 min briefing last week just saying that big news was coming monday and to expect the call volume to be absurd, and that this was a decision the company was making and that its final.

For context, every other "big news" Netflix event hasn't garnered a 30 min meeting just to tell everyone to expect big news and to stay calm and be prepared, etc. My friend said even when they expanded to 30+ countries, it was just a little sentence on their "dashboard" and it didn't even warrant anything significant.

So I asked my friend today and all I got was a reply saying that my friend can't say what it is, and to expect an email from Netflix soon.

Thanks to Nathan and everyone else for sending this in.

Comments

[Andreamocko]

If that happens, I'll definitely be dropping to the DVD only plan. My Amazon Prime account will just be that much more worth it. $16 dollars is ridiculous. Not exactly a little price bump.

[R M]

I heard from someone who works at the call center in Portland that there is something 'big' coming on Wednesday the 13th. I cannot believe that they are planning on hiking prices up again, especially after all the outcry over the 'improved' instant watch page on the site and the constant outages and problems with streaming. However, even if the prices go up, again (second time this year) people will continue to use the service. They will complain, but they will continue. Netflix is still and will continue to be the premiere rental and streaming service.

[Anthony Hayes]

I'm willing to pay more, within reason. Netflix is worth it to me. I would rather pay it to Nflix than a cable company or satellite provider.

[Dissolutus]

Ugh...I'd definitely drop DVDs if this is the case.
I only rent 1 at a time and to be honest, most of the new releases I don't even get from Netflix since they're always waitlisted. I typically just reserve new stuff at Redbox (beats waiting in line and finding out the person in front of you nabbed the last copy of the movie you wanted) and rent older DVDs through Netflix.

[TimothyJDwyer]

Well if they do raise prices again this year I'll be saying goodbye to Netflix. I love their service (which is 2nd to none) but for those of us on a limited budget it will be too much too soon.

[Russell Brazil]

A 60% price increase is insane. If that happens....I will likely get rid of Netflix and switch to Amazon Prime for $79 a year/$6.58 a month.

[Johnson1965Tony]

Well they kind of have to raise rates how else do you expect this company to pay for this ponzi (Enron) scheme they have created? They have all of these international aspirations and they need all of the US subscribers to pay for it.

[pwrof3]

If a price hike does come, then Netflix is certainly getting too expensive for me.
I love the streaming and getting discs in the mail, but if I can pay Amazon $79 a year and still get some streaming content, then it just makes it harder to continue justifying the monthly cost of Netflix. :(

Of course, no one offers the amount of streaming content that Netflix does. Unfortunately, I don't think it is worth paying more than the $9.99. The entire purpose of Netflix for the last year or so for me has been to replace my cable service (along with OTA). If the prices rise, then I may as well just have kept cable.

[Jv3030]

I can't stand streaming so i will get the dics only plan with blu-ray!

[SPLG]

Streaming only here I come...

[Hermitscott]

It's no rumor - major price increase is official: http://blog.netflix.com/2011/07/netflix-introduces-new-plans-and.html.

They locked comments after about 12 minutes due to the unsurprising response.

[Henchman-24]

I’ve had my Netflix 3-Out account since 2003. I signed up for Blu-ray when Netflix started to carry them. I also opted-in when Netflix decided to charge an extra $1/month for Blu-ray Access. I opted-out of Blu-ray Access when, a few months later, Netflix decided to up the fee to $4/month. When Netflix decided to up the membership pricing back in Feb 2011, I downgraded to 1-Out/Unlimited Streaming. I suppose I could, once again, dial back my membership plan to Unlimited Streaming Only should these rumors prove to be true but this time AND FOR THE FIRST TIME I will be considering the additional option to just cancel my account with Netflix because 1) while Streaming Video is somewhat convenient (and Netflix is King of Streams) it is also my least favorite way to enjoy watching movies on my HDTV and 2) the content licensing deals are far too volatile for my leisurely video watching past time.

Hint: Netflix is a self-proclaimed “primarily a video streaming company” – nothing in this published statement gives me confidence that they will strive to be a superior DVD/BD disc rental system going into the future. Netflix can wish the future Internet will support TrueHD 1080p/24hz quality with DTS sound, and perhaps it will, but right now the Internet, Netflix’s Achilles Heel if you will, can’t come close to the performance of a HDMI cable sourced from a Blu-ray player. I spent serious money upgrading my home theater system to the 21st Century, why on God’s green earth would I settle for pushing miniscule-bitrated, grossly compressed video to it and call that a good use of the technology? To put it another way, would I rather eat fast-food or a steak dinner?

formally known here as dAVe

[JohnnyO]

Wow. Just Wow. Who's in charge over there?

Forget about the price increase, they are basically separating the services, and the blog post doesn't even mention Blu-ray. Really weird.

At this stage, I'll definitely be sticking with my Blockbuster online/by Mail subscription.

[Johnson1965Tony]

This is 2nd price hike, screwed up their home page, worse content, repeated blackouts..
It's hitting a wall after saturating the US market they have no choice but to start milking and bilking current customers. The payment for content deals they've made is comming due.

[Raven A. Wind]

Well, this is just plain unpleasant. It's way too much of an increase. I will be dropping the DVD plan (which is, of course, Netflix's goal) and switch to streaming-only.

If I want DVDs, I'll have to buy them used instead of renting them, I guess. I won't rent from Blockbuster, and Redbox doesn't carry anything that isn't a new release or popular hit.

Forgive my lack of decorum, but this is a dick move by Netflix.

[Allison Elzie]

If I read the Netflix Blog right, the $15.98 means Unlimited streaming AND Unlimited dvds. But they don't say if Unlimited dvds means only 1 disc at a time out or what. I really hope they aren't going to 1 dvd at a time only, that will suck. I like having 2 dvds in rotation. And there's still so much that's not available streaming.

Heck there's still a lot of tv shows that aren't fully streaming. I wanted to watch Columbo after Peter Falk died - half the first season is dvd only. I've had issues with other tv shows like that too - there will be a few episodes that are DVD only, sometimes it means getting a dvd just to watch 1 episode.

[Johnson1965Tony]

This is more confirmation that their new business plan is crumbling under the weight of content contracts and they are retrenching like they did with postal rate rise throttling

[R M]

Here is the press release I got via Netflix Investor Relations Email:

Netflix to Offer new Unlimited DVD Plans and Will Separate Streaming and DVD Plans in the U.S.
New Unlimited DVD-Only Plan at $7.99 is the Lowest-Ever Price Offered;
Unlimited Streaming Remains $7.99

LOS GATOS, Calif—July 12, 2011—Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq:NFLX) announced today it is launching new
unlimited DVD-only plans in the U.S. at their lowest price ever– only $7.99 a month for the 1 DVD out ata-
time plan and $11.99 a month for the 2 DVDs out at-a-time plan.

New members can sign up for these plans by going to DVD.netflix.com.

Netflix also announced it is separating its unlimited streaming and unlimited DVD plans in the U.S. to
better reflect the costs of each and to give members a choice: a streaming-only plan, a DVD-only plan or
the option to subscribe to both.

With this change, Netflix will no longer be offering unlimited plans that include both streaming and
DVDs by mail. The unlimited streaming plan will remain at $7.99 a month. The price for getting both
unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs will be $15.98 a month ($7.99 + $7.99).

For new Netflix members, the changes will be effective immediately. For existing members, the new
pricing will start for charges on or after September 1.
“Netflix members love watching instantly, but we’ve come to recognize there is still a very large
continuing demand for DVDs by mail,” said Andy Rendich, Netflix Chief Service and Operations Officer.

“By better reflecting the underlying costs and offering our lowest prices ever for unlimited DVD, we
hope to provide a great value to our current and future DVD-by-mail members.”

Netflix introduced streaming to its popular DVD-by-mail business in 2007. Since then, membership has
climbed from 6 million to 23 million in the U.S. as people have embraced the idea of watching instantly
an ever-expanding library of movies and TV shows on the hundreds of consumer electronics devices
capable of streaming movies and TV shows from Netflix right to members’ TVs.

[Brandon Barkley]

According to my current "Change Membership" page, these are the new prices.

Streaming Only: 7.99

DVD Only:
1. 7.99
2. 11.99
3. 15.99
4. 21.99
5. 27.99
6. 32.99
7. 37.99
8. 43.99

Unlimited DVD+Streaming:
1. 15.98
2. 19.98
3. 23.98
4. 29.98
5. 35.98
6. 40.98
7. 45.98
8. 51.98

Limited Plans:
1 DVD (2 rentals per month) + 2 Hours Watch Instant $4.99
Starz Play Only $6.99

[Mmeaney87]

I just looked at the pricing for my plan (3 DVDs + Streaming). If I want to stay at this same "plan" I'm looking at a $4 increase from 19.99 to 23.98 a month plus taxes. Luckily the new pricing doesn't go into effect for current users until your billing on or after September 1st. That gives me 2 more months to milk Netflix for all I'm paying it and try a new service. I figure I'll give Amazon's unlimited streaming a try for $79 a year.

[pointedview.livejournal.com]

This is an astonishing price hike.

I frankly am not sure yet what we're going to do. I need to talk with my spouse about it, but I am surely not paying that much for what I'm getting now. Absolutely not.

Husband can pay for the difference, or we can go Redbox, or Blockbuster. Netflix isn't the only company on the block.

[Robert Woods]

I think the new pricing structure looks fair. I don't see any other streaming or dvd service that offers what Netflix has.

I'll stay with my 1 dvd/unlimited streaming plan until they get more complete availability on the tv seasons.

I don't think any streaming business will be lost, but many will probably rethink their dvd requirements.