Introduces-new-plans-and. Jessie Becker, here to share two significant changes at Netflix with you.
First, we are launching new DVD only plans. These plans offer our lowest prices ever for unlimited DVDs – only $7.99 a month for our 1 DVD out at-a-time plan and $11.99 a month for our 2 DVDs out at-a-time plan. By offering our lowest prices ever, we hope to provide great value to our current and future DVDs by mail members. New members can sign up for these plans by going to DVD.netflix.com. Second, we are separating unlimited DVDs by mail and unlimited streaming into separate plans to better reflect the costs of each and to give our members a choice: a streaming only plan, a DVD only plan or the option to subscribe to both. So for instance, our current $9.99 a month membership for unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs will be split into 2 distinct plans: Plan 1: Unlimited Streaming (no DVDs) for $7.99 a month Plan 2: Unlimited DVDs, 1 out at-a-time (no streaming), for $7.99 a month.
Why the changes? Why Netflix changed its pricing plans. Netflix's Inevitable Split. Netflix announced this morning that it is changing its pricing structure for DVD and streaming videos.
Starting Sept.1, unlimited movie streaming and DVD-by-mail will be separate options costing $7.99 a month with the option of combining the two for $15.98 a month, or double what a standard Netflix subscription now costs. The announcement comes as a surprise to those that thought that Netflix would eventually kill off its DVD-by-mail business and only offer streaming video.
It was inevitable that Netflix would change its pricing structure. The company started as a DVD-by-mail operation at $7.99 a month and operated with that as its primary business model until the unlimited-streaming option became available in 2008. It is a wonder that it took this long for Netflix to unbundle the two options and make them separate sources of revenue. Several things pop out about this announcement. Netflix is restructuring its infrastructure to reflect the split between streaming and DVD divisions. 'Dear Netflix': Price hike ignites social-media fire. While it's been a rough day for some Netflix users who partake of both online streaming and DVD-by-mail services with word of a 60 percent price hike , today has been downright bruising for Netflix itself.
The company is getting battered by irate users taking to social media to vent their red-envelope-tinged fury. Netflix's price increase for certain account types has many users saying they'll cancel in protest. Will you join them? On Netflix's Facebook page, just six hours after the company posted a link to the announcement that appeared on its company blog, more than 9,000 comments have been posted in response. I read a sample of about 100 comments, and only one defended the Netflix decision. Related stories Netflix hikes prices, adds DVD-only plan ZDNet--Netflix's pricing backlash: Follow the money, churn rates "I can't believe the gall of a company raising what I can get today by over 60 percent!
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