Poll: Will You Cancel Netflix Due to the Rate Hike?

Earlier this week, Netflix announced that it will increase the price of its streaming video service by “one or two dollars a month” within the next few months in order to support its development of original content such as ‘House of Cards’ and ‘Orange Is the New Black’. Does this upset you enough to cancel your subscription, or are you not bothered by it?

To be clear about what’s happening, the rate hike will initially only apply to new subscriptions. According to CNN, existing customers will be grandfathered into their current rates for an undetermined “generous time period.” Does that make this a non-issue, or are you worried that the time period will not be as generous as implied?

I don’t use Netflix myself. I just don’t stream enough content to make a monthly subscription to anything worthwhile. If I feel like streaming a movie, I’m much more likely to do it in a la carte fashion from VUDU. Also, it troubles me the way that Netflix frequently purges content from its catalog. Although this means that I miss out on original programming like ‘House of Cards’, I have enough TV to watch as it is to keep me busy. Also, if I really needed to, I could catch up with ‘House of Cards’ on Blu-ray. I’m confident that Netflix’s other shows will become available by other means eventually.

However, if I were a Netflix subscriber, I don’t think that a $2 monthly increase would deter me. Hell, as a cable subscriber, I’ve learned to take rate hikes in stride. Netflix still seems like a good value for what it offers.

Will You Cancel Netflix Due to the Rate Hike?

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17 comments

  1. NJScorpio

    I’m currently an Amazon Prime member (sticking with that), a Hulu Plus subscriber (also sticking with that), as well as a Netflix subscriber.

    I’ve been debating about keeping Netflix due to the overlap in content with Prime, but every now and then I find something I enjoy specific to Netflix’s catalog. Not original content, but just exclusive.

    When add up the cost of the three services, and look at it like one package, the monthly fee for all three together is very reasonable. I do tend to use Netflix the least though…so I’m a customer on the fence. Netflix needs to win me over again. Not with original TV series, but with new release movies.

    • William Henley

      I’m with NJ. And now that Netflix is adding 3D content, that is something that is exclusive to Netflix and Vudu (and MGO or whatever its called), but with Netflix, its a subscription and not a per-show fee.

      I find the streaming services to be of higher quality than broadcast, cable or satelite. And as I cut the cable about 2 and a half years ago, I find the value of the streaming services to be really good. An extra buck or two a month doesn’t bother me at all – at least Netflix and Amazon inform people, instead of pushing it quietly on you like the cable companies do.

      The only complaint I really have is that Hulu’s interface is horrid, Amazon has changed their interface several times since I started using their service, Netflix’s auto-bandwidth is annoying when you watch a show and suddenly the quality drops and it takes like a minute or two for it renegotiate even though you only had a second or two of data loss, and back to Hulu – too many shows are “web only”.

      Anyways, I’m keeping Netflix. An extra buck a month is no big deal.

  2. Chris B

    I don’t have Netflix beacause I tend to pretty anal about the way I view content. I only like to watch movies on BluRay, that way I know I’m getting the highest possible video quality available as opposed the slightly lower fidelity of streaming services and broadcast HD.

    As for TV programming, I really only watch one scripted show (The Walking Dead) and I’m not even sure how much longer I’ll keep that up….but that’s a rant for another day… Any other shows I end up sitting through are reality TV competitions I put up with because my wife is a fan of them. These and other reasons are why I’ve never really bothered to subscribe….

    • NJScorpio

      Several times I’ve started watching a movie on Netflix, but couldn’t stand the poor streaming quality (most times it looks solid to great), so I just pick up the movie on Amazon Prime! Just exit one app, start the next, and the video quality was noticeably better.

      It happened last with ‘Face/Off’ and all of the series Alias.

      • William Henley

        Its also annoying that the video quality always starts off with the quality of like dialup modem streaming from 15 years ago, and it takes it several seconds (sometimes up to half a minute) to negotiate higher quality. It didn’t used to be like that. I think Netflix changed that so that you would have faster start times and less time waiting for the show to buffer. I just wish I had the option to choose.

        They took that option away on the PS3 Hulu version, but it is still available on the Vizio App version to let me lock in a bandwidth choice. If I do get a drop, it is usually for a second or two, and I much rather see it buffering for a second or two than Netflix drop to dialup quality for a minute or two.

        • NJScorpio

          By “starting”, I meant like watching 45 minutes of ‘Face/Off’, or several episodes of Alias.

          I do know what you mean about that low quality start up. I don’t mind that too much, and it seems Fire TV lessens that.

          You brought up a good point on your other post about Netflix 3D content. My problem is when I run into connection issues, instead of lowering quality or pausing the video, my whole BD crashes (an issue with my crappy Sony 3D BD player). I use it less often than I’d like.

  3. I’m very looking forward to the new Orange is the New Black, and I like the 3D streaming, so I’ll keep it at least another couple of months. I also like that a lot of foreign films seem to be available same day as bluray release date for new titles.

  4. Considering I pay Comcast $200 for cable, paying Netflix $9.99 instead of $7.99 (if it comes to that, as I’m locked in for a while at the subscriber rate) does seem trivial.

    Of course, the rate increase probably has a lot to do with the Comcast deal Netflix struck, ironically.

  5. EM

    I’m not sure which option best fits my situation, which is that I subscribe to Netflix but not to its streaming service, and so a price hike that affects only streaming subscribers does not concern me.

  6. Peter

    Netflix has many quirks, but it’s still a good deal even with a $1-2 price hike. I assume that hiked price would then be stable for about 4 years. That’s way less of a hike that the bloodsuckers at Time Warner seem to increase my bill by every year or even every few months. More of an issue is the lack of popular new releases – Netflix needs to really add some new big movies as the service is kind of getting stale.

  7. If the extra $$ was to pay for additional content and them to work deals with the studios, there’s no problem I see. Their own content shows though does not interest me so paying extra for something that would not benefit me is a bit discouraging.
    Their library is bigger than Amazon’s but if you look at Amazon’s new price even, Netflix is quickly going to surpass it.

  8. As long as the price increase comes with not only more original programming but a larger library of things I actually want to watch then I’m totally fine with the $1-$2 increase per month. Most people spend as much per week on coffee as the price difference will be for a year.

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