Are You Still Watching?: Netflix Is Planning To Hit Your Wallets With Another Price Hike
Written by djfrosty on October 5, 2023
Source: Mario Tama / Getty / Netflix
Tudum. That’s the sound of Netflix coming to take more money from your bank accounts.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Netflix plans to hit its subscribers with another price hike in a “few months.”
Per WSJ’s reporting, the movie streaming giant will raise prices in “several markets globally,” and subscribers in Canada and the United States will have the honor of paying the new subscription price first.
There are no details on how much subscribers will have to pay when the price hike hits, and Netflix hasn’t said anything since the WSJ’s reporting.
The latest news comes just a year after Netflix raised the subscription price for all its plans. The ad-free Standard tier rose to $15.49 / month and the Premium plan to $19.99 / month.
For those looking for a break, Netflix finally launched its long-rumored $6.99 ad-supported plan while chucking its $ 9.99-a-month ad-free basic plan.
The price hike could be the latest controversial decision for Netflix after it cracked down on password sharing and charging subscribers an additional $7.99 monthly if they share their account with friends.
Netflix Prices Hike Could Be In Response To The Strikes
It also should be no surprise that this price hike announcement comes on the heels of the WGA ending their strike and actors possibly returning to work soon.
Netflix could be waiting to hit its subscribers with the bad news when Hollywood is fully back to work.
Speaking of the strike, in the deal the WGA happily agreed to, streamers like Netflix, Disney Plus, and Hulu will now have to share information with writers on how well their content is performing.
The new deal will also see writers get a “minimum compensation increase of 18 percent for high-budget films, along with a 26 percent increase in residuals,” per The Verge’s reporting.
While the streamers are seemingly responding to having to pay writers and actors their fair share by increasing subscription prices, the WGA points out that the new contract’s cost will only account for “0.2 percent of Netflix’s annual revenue.”
If and when Netflix finally confirms the price hike, it will join the likes of Disney Plus, whose subscribers are prepping for a price hike at the end of the month.
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Photo: Mario Tama / Getty