Now That's A Price Hike Netflix!

Ok, I understand costs are rising everywhere and that price hikes are inevitable but raising them in some cases up to 60% in one fell swoop?

For those that were unaware, Netflix announced yesterday that it was revamping its plans which among other things removed streaming from their standard DVD plans making it a separate add on starting on September 1st.

Netflix's love letter from my inbox:

Dear Robert,

We are separating unlimited DVDs by mail and unlimited streaming into two separate plans to better reflect the costs of each. Now our members have a choice: a streaming only plan, a DVD only plan, or both.

Your current $11.99 a month membership for unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs (including Blu-ray access) will be split into 2 distinct plans:

Plan 1: Unlimited Streaming (no DVDs) for $7.99 a month
Plan 2: Unlimited DVDs (including Blu-ray), 1 out at-a-time (no streaming)
for $9.99 a month

Your price for getting both of these plans will be $17.98 a month ($7.99 + $9.99). You don't need to do anything to continue your memberships for both unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs.

These prices will start for charges on or after September 1, 2011.

You can easily change or cancel your unlimited streaming plan, unlimited DVD plan, or both, by going to the Plan Change page in Your Account.

We realize you have many choices for home entertainment, and we thank you for your business. As always, if you have questions, please feel free to call us at 1-888-357-1516.

–The Netflix Team


To say I am unhappy is an understatement but to say I am going to cancel completely is not something I am ready to say yet at least until I hear more from Netflix on what if any improvements come along with this massive hike. But if the 1000's of comments I am seeing on Neflix's blog and Facebook page are any indication, many other people have already decided.

Obviously any price hike is going to be met by some sort of backlash and this is a free market society so Netflix can do whatever they wish but I am wondering if they were actually prepared for this huge of a wave of negative comments?

As for me, I have a month and a half to figure out what I am going to do as I am having a hard time swallowing the idea of paying $18 on September 1st for the same level of service I was getting for $12 on August 31st. Right now I would have to say that unless Netflix improves their streaming service to include more new releases between now and then, my already limited entertainment budget will be spent elsewhere.