Netflix Rate Increase… Are you in or out?
On my way home this morning I saw this bird feeder shaped like a bird house and I immediately thought to myself, Wow a real-life bird box! That movie was sooo good, I think everyone with or without a Netflix account must have saw at least once and heard about it about 50 times….. So why is Netflix raisin their prices… Again?? Let’s talk about it.
Here’s what I found out. The movie Birdbox, which stars Sandra Bullock, was released in December of 2018 and is reported by Netflix to have been watched by 80 million households in its first month, according to the Washington Post. Wow, right… I know. My question here is; If so many people are indeed taking advantage of their Netflix accounts, Why the increase in prices?
In a recent article by Variety.com, it has been reported that Netflix customers will see a rate increase as early as next month and the new rate will be effective immediately for new subscribers. The new rates will increase for Standard plan packages by $2 per month, jumping from $10.99 to $12.99 and for Premium subscribers the rate will go from $13.99 to $15.99, and for the first time ever the Basic plan will go from $7.99 to $8.99.
According to The New York Times, Netflix has to raise their prices because of the price they pay for the content they use or what is called “Negative Free Cash Flow”, meaning that more money is going out the door than coming in. Reportedly cheaper than HBO, whose streaming services can start at $15.00 a month. Netflix pays big bucks to keep their customers happy. “Friends” for instance, aired on NBC for ten years, and is owned by AT&T’s Warner Media, well was owned, because Netflix agreed to pay $100 million to air the show on their platform!! (who knew friends were so expensive!)
So are you in or are you out?? Here are a few other streaming services that I found: Amazon as apart of Prime shipping for $13 a month and Hulu offers an ad-free service for $12 per month and Apple who has reportedly spent over $1billion to create original TV shows….
It will be interesting to watch these streaming services compete against each other, but I think I will continue to wear my blindfold and stick with Netflix!!
