Why I am keeping my Netflix account
Quite a lot has been said about the fact that Netflix prices have gone up. And for the most part, what has been said has been negative. And that’s understandable. For the most popular type of account (1 DVD at a time and unlimited streaming) the monthly price of Netflix has nearly doubled. So it is understandable why some people are deciding that this is the time to drop Netflix from their monthly expenses.
Me, I decided to hang on to my account, at least for the time being. For one thing having a large account (3 DVDs at a time and unlimited streaming) meant that my account only rose by 20% instead of the staggering blow of 50%. For another, the amount of time I spend watching Netflix still means the inflated price is a good deal (I probably spend less than a dollar per movie I watch) and it’s still the cheapest way to watch newer DVDs.
Then the Starz news hit.
Starting in February, the contract between Starz and Netflix would expire meaning that all of Starz content would no longer be available on Netflix instant view. Starz provides Netflix with over a thousand movies included pretty new titles such as Toy Story 3 (which I just watched again) and its impending absence once again made me reconsider if it was really worth it to keep paying for Netflix every moth.
Then I read this story from the Los Angeles Times website.
While I recommend you click the link and read the article yourself, it basically states that the reason that negotiations for a renewal fell through, was because Starz demanded a premium price for their content, meaning that not only would Netflix have to pay Starz for the privilege of streaming the content (the number quoted was $300 million) but that Netflix customers would have to pay an additional cost to access Starz content.
I understand Starz’s desire to stay in the good graces of other entertainment providers such as DirecTV, but it strikes a bad cord that Starz wants to interfere with the relationship between Netflix and its costumers. An additional “premium” charge in addition to the already increased subscription price is not something that I would be willing to pay, and I think that the streaming library would then be far to diminished for me to consider keeping my account. So, for now, I’m fully supporting Netflix, and their stand that each costumer will have access to all of their content, regardless of what they pay.
So it looks like Netflix is going to have about $300 million extra dollars lying around. So I ask them, use that to really boost the streaming library another way. Surely someone would be interested in getting their content to the nearly 25 million Netflix subscribers.
Me, I decided to hang on to my account, at least for the time being. For one thing having a large account (3 DVDs at a time and unlimited streaming) meant that my account only rose by 20% instead of the staggering blow of 50%. For another, the amount of time I spend watching Netflix still means the inflated price is a good deal (I probably spend less than a dollar per movie I watch) and it’s still the cheapest way to watch newer DVDs.
Then the Starz news hit.
Starting in February, the contract between Starz and Netflix would expire meaning that all of Starz content would no longer be available on Netflix instant view. Starz provides Netflix with over a thousand movies included pretty new titles such as Toy Story 3 (which I just watched again) and its impending absence once again made me reconsider if it was really worth it to keep paying for Netflix every moth.
Then I read this story from the Los Angeles Times website.
While I recommend you click the link and read the article yourself, it basically states that the reason that negotiations for a renewal fell through, was because Starz demanded a premium price for their content, meaning that not only would Netflix have to pay Starz for the privilege of streaming the content (the number quoted was $300 million) but that Netflix customers would have to pay an additional cost to access Starz content.
I understand Starz’s desire to stay in the good graces of other entertainment providers such as DirecTV, but it strikes a bad cord that Starz wants to interfere with the relationship between Netflix and its costumers. An additional “premium” charge in addition to the already increased subscription price is not something that I would be willing to pay, and I think that the streaming library would then be far to diminished for me to consider keeping my account. So, for now, I’m fully supporting Netflix, and their stand that each costumer will have access to all of their content, regardless of what they pay.
So it looks like Netflix is going to have about $300 million extra dollars lying around. So I ask them, use that to really boost the streaming library another way. Surely someone would be interested in getting their content to the nearly 25 million Netflix subscribers.
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