Netflix is keeping its promise from last month to raise prices for streaming subscribers. The online giant will now charge $8.99 per month for new members (only a $1 dollar increase for current streaming plans) as Netflix plans similar price jumps through its European bases.
Subscribers received emails this morning confirming the price hike, stressing that current customers are guaranteed their current rate (so long as they don’t change their plan) for the next two years. Netflix also took the opportunity to tease some of its upcoming additions to the service such as “Star Trek Into Darkness,” “Scandal” and season two of “Orange is the New Black.”
These new streaming options are adding onto Netflix’s recent announcements that “Breaking Bad” will be available in 4K as early as this summer. New documentaries were also just added to its streaming library, including “Battered Bastards of Baseball” and “Mission Blue,” both set to debut in July-August, as well as “E-Team” and “Print the Legend” for later this year.
Read more at Venture Beat.
Brief Take: CEO Reed Hastings’ comments from April’s investor call and today’s email to subscribers confirm that Netflix believes the price hike is necessary for the company to expand, which means many more acquisitions are to come, as well as more documentaries to chase another Oscar nom and possibly more originals to add to its lineup.
[Image courtesy of Netflix]
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