The writing has been on the wall for some time, but now Netflix has confirmed it plans to raise membership prices.
The hike, the company noted in its Q1 shareholder letter, will affect new members first, and it will likely go on the books in the coming months. The door is wide open for current customers to eventually see a price jump as well.
If the price is right
Hastings and CFO David Wells, who penned the shareholder note, related that when prices went up in January for new members in Ireland - from €6.99 to €7.99 - the impact was minimal.
Existing members were grandfathered in at €6.99 for two years.
A dollar increase in the US would bring the price of above a Hulu Plus membership, which sits at $7.99. Granted, Hulu Plus bombards its members with advertisements, an annoyance Netflix has avoided.
During its last earnings release, the streaming service revealed that it's considering a three-tier pricing structure for new customers, though said at the time it was in no rush to implement such a cost structure.
The last time Netflix fiddled with prices, customers mutinied. The company proposed in 2011 separating its DVD service into a service called "Qwikster," charging the same for it and its streaming service. The higher prices and Netflix's perceived arrogance through the ordeal led to customers unsubscribing by the droves.
Netflix eventually abandoned Qwikster.
