AnMaster.com

Alexkid

Netflix rates rise up to 60 pct for DVD, streaming
MICHAEL LIEDTKE
(The Associated Press)



06:10:43AM (DST) Wednesday,July 13,2011.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Netflix is raising its prices by as much as 60 percent for millions of subscribers who want to rent DVDs by mail and watch video on the Internet.

The company is separating the two options so that subscribers who want both will have to buy separate plans totaling at least $16 per month. Netflix Inc. had been bundling both options in a single package, available for as low as $10 per month.

New subscribers will have to pay the new prices immediately. The changes take effect Sept. 1 for Netflix's current customers.

Netflix isn't changing the $8 monthly price for an Internet streaming-only option, which the company began offering late last year. But instead of charging $2 more for a plan that also offers one DVD at a time by mail, the company will charge $8 for a comparable DVD-only plan. That brings the total to $16.

Those who want to rent up to two DVDs at a time with streaming will pay $20 per month, or 33 percent more. Those wanting three DVDs at a time with streaming will pay $24 per month, or 20 percent more.

When Netflix unveiled the streaming-only option, it also raised the rates for its most popular DVD rental plans by $1 to $3 per month. Those plans included unlimited online streaming too, as had been the case since Netflix began sending video over high-speed Internet connections in 2007. That means longtime subscribers who want both entertainment options will get their second price increase in eight months.

Netflix's willingness to risk alienating subscribers signals that it needs to bring in more money to cover its rising costs.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
* Risk factor on a monetary scale for Netflix since they showed a profit late winter 2011. *

__________________
Yeah...Do That.