I’ve heard it plenty of times in recent months. Friends talking about ditching cable or satellite TV and switching to Netflix for streaming media, DVDs and Blu-Rays. 
Well those good times are about to get more expensive. According to The Netflix Blog, prices for their services are going up. The pricing changes take place this September. You can get unlimited streaming for $7.99 a month under the new plan, or get an unlimited 1 DVD rental play for $7.99. If you want both the DVD and the unlimited streaming (which currently costs us ten bucks), the price for that jumps to $15.98 a month. As for the reason for the change, Netflix thinks the demand for just DVDs justifies separating the plans and charging more for having both fully featured services. It’s still cheaper than cable or satellite, for but those of us who have enjoyed the benefits of it in recent years, the price jump is still a shock. I’m changing my plan to just unlimited streaming, as that’s what we watch most in my home. Technically I’ll be saving two bucks a month, I suppose, but I still miss the option to get the occasional movie on DVD.
What do you think about the new plan?
July 12th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
Hmm. While this is a tiny bit odious, given the fact that their streaming only library is growing quickly and it’s what I use most it’s not too bad. We may switch to Redbox whenever we want a more recent video.
July 12th, 2011 at 3:09 pm
I joined Netflix a few months ago, and my family and I love it. Still a great bargain with the coming increase.
I have been wondering if HJ should do some reviews of what is available on the streaming service — maybe a “Netflix Recommendations from HJ Contributors” category,or something like that. What do you all think?
July 13th, 2011 at 2:32 am
Mark, we think that’s a great idea!
July 13th, 2011 at 9:29 am
Actually, I think we could add “Netflix” under the “eMedia” category and collect blogged entries there.
We have the one-disc/streaming package, but rarely use the mailed discs while using the streaming service several times a week.
I just watched More Than a Game, the LeBron James documentary, last week and found it to be the best sports movie I’ve ever seen. Yesterday afternoon, we streamed Outsourced (the movie) and really enjoyed it.
July 13th, 2011 at 9:34 am
Okay… added a Streaming subcategory under eMedia. So for capsule reviews of streaming media, use Movies, eMedia, Streaming, and Reviews. For the first few entries, collecting those under eMedia will be fine. After a bit, I’ll create a special Streaming Media page to collect them.
July 13th, 2011 at 9:36 am
Oh… and we’ll probably be ditching the disc service.
July 13th, 2011 at 10:51 am
I’ll be interested to see if they are going to be expanding the streaming library and what other outlets will be doing. Seeing that “Dear Netflix” was trending at Twitter yesterday, I gotta believe this is going to lose them some business. However, I think if most of it is the disc side, they probably won’t mind.