electronista
10/08/2008, 3:50pm, EDT
Wednesday, October 8thNetflix to charge $1 extra for Blu-ray rentals
Netflix on Wednesday announced it would make begin charging its subscribers an extra $1 and related tax for access to its Blu-ray movie library. The change is set to take place starting on November 5th, with Netflix citing the extra cost of Blu-ray movies compared to those on standard DVD as the reason for the change. Previously, users could pick either DVD or Blu-ray movies as part of their regular monthly rates, which begin at about $5.
Users who do not rent Blu-ray movies need to log into their account and remove Blu-ray access from their options to avoid the extra charges.
The company has lately shifted more of its effort to its online video services, which are already available on Windows PCs as well as Roku's Netflix Player and LG's BD300. Both Mac support and an Xbox 360 update will also support the Internet-only feature, which costs as much as regular DVDs.
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Dumb Decision by Netflix!
In possibly the dumbest decision of the year, Netflix has decided to charge $1 more per month to allow those of us who occasionally rent Blu Ray DVDs to continue with that privilege. They justify the additional monthly charge as being needed to offset the extra cost of the DVD formats in Blu Ray.
I think this is ridiculous. There's far less cost difference between conventional DVD releases (of say) Batman Begins and the Blu Ray DVD of Batman Begins than they claim. In fact, the priciest DVDs they offer are the stellar Criterion Collection (most of which retail for $39-$99).
Can we assume that Criterion DVDs will soon necessitate a monthly surcharge also?
I think in a failing economy in which consumers are going to be re-examining every cent of their entertainment dollar, now is NOT the time to nickel-and-dime your customer base.
I cancelled my Netflix membership today over this.
More for the principle than anything else.
I seem to remember a "price roll back" about a year ago that they extended to most of their customers.
So, let me get this right...roll back prices one year, than selectively raise them for 800 titles of your 70,000 title complete inventory? S T U P I D.
No wonder customers aren't happy.