Netflix to Increase Prices on Grandfathered Plans
By Simon Hung
April 11, 2016Netflix has become an essential staple in many of our everyday lives, with an abundance of content available and access to phenomenal Netflix Originals like Daredevil, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, House of Cards, The Ridiculous 6 and more.
However, Netflix subscribers who have grandfathered $7.99 HD plans will have to pay more for their subscriptions, as the company will end the grandfathering period and phase out those old plans in favour of their new pricing tiers.
Netflix expanded its streaming services to Canada in 2010 at a very appealing price of $7.99 per month. In May 2014, the company increased the price to $8.99 per month, but members who had subscribed earlier were grandfathered and were able to keep their existing plan for $7.99 per month. In October 2015, new pricing tiers were announced -- a basic standard definition plan was introduced at $7.99 per month along with a new premium plan with 4K streaming for $11.99 per month, while the price of their standard plan was increased to $9.99 per month. Like before, early adopters were grandfathered and were able to access the features of the $9.99 plan for $7.99.
Starting this May, those early adopters will have to pay more to watch content in HD, as Netflix is ending the grandfathering period and converting all of these subscribers -- 17 million of them worldwide -- to their new pricing structure. Curiously, the company has not notified these subscribers of this impending change, even though it’s been widely reported by many news outlets.
Subscribers on grandfathered plans will have the option to continue to pay $7.99 per month with Netflix’s SD plan, but with that plan, you lose the ability to stream in HD and on multiple devices simultaneously. Otherwise, you’ll have to pay $9.99 per month to stream in HD or $11.99 per month if you want 4K playback. No official date has been announced for the change, although a footnote on grandfathered accounts does mention that these plans are guaranteed until Monday, May 9, 2016.
Though inevitable (Netflix has reportedly been planning for this change for over two years), this new strategy won’t sit well with some, especially in conjunction with the recent news that Netflix will aggressively crack down on members who use VPN services, although their rationale is that many grandfathered members will be willing to pay extra since they’ve been with the company for a long time.
If you’re a Netflix subscriber on a grandfathered plan, what are you going to do? Let us know by answering the poll below and sharing your thoughts in the comments!
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