Sorry Cord Cutters, Your Netflix Streaming Bill Is About To Increase Yet Again
What do you do if you're coming off a $7.97 billion quarter and are forecasting next quarter's revenue to be $8.2 billion? Well if you're Netflix, apparently you raise prices (again) for your streaming service. Unfortunately, the cost of cutting the cord and relying on streaming services is becoming more expensive, especially if you're juggling multiple services.
Cable and satellite TV providers don't get a pass either as no matter how you slice it, you can rack up quite the hefty bill, depending on your entertainment package. However, whereas cord cutting was once a salve for high cable and satellite TV bills, more frequent price increases have cut into the value proposition of going all-in with streaming.
Netflix is also all-in on streaming these days, having just recently sent out its last DVD and thus marking the end of an era. On the streaming side, an unlimited buffet at Netflix ran $7.99 per month in 2011. Then in 2014, it raised the price by a couple of bucks, though it also allowed people to stick with the cheaper plan that was limited to standard definition (SD) streams.
Plans and options have changed over the years with Netflix serving up a steady diet of price increases. The most recent round of price hikes came last year when Netflix bumped the cost of its basic plan from $8.99 to $9.99 per month, it's standard plan from $13.99 to $15.49 per month, and 4K premium tier from $17.99 to $19.99 per month.
On top of the higher prices, Netflix earlier this year began a concerted effort to crack down on password sharing, adding a new $7.99 add-on option to still share your account with someone who lives outside your home.
Now another price hike looms—according to The Wall Street Journal, Netflix is planning to raise the cost of its ad-free streaming service after the SAG-AFTRA (Hollywood actors) strike ends. It's reported that Netflix's price increase will affect multiple markets across the globe starting with the US and Canada. It's not clear how much the service will go up and/or if it will affect all tiers, including the $19.99 per month 4K package.
What's additionally unfortunate about the move is that streaming services appear to follow each other's lead. This week, for example, Discovery+ raised its ad-free price from $6.99 to $8.99 per month in the US, though it kept its ad-supported tier steady at $4.99 per month.
