If You Use This Popular Streaming Service, Prepare for Added Fees Next Year
iStock / bymuratdeniz
It wasn’t too long ago that canceling your cable package in favor of a streaming platform was a way to save some serious money. But as new on-demand services have grown in number over time, it’s becoming more difficult to avoid an expensive rebound in your monthly bills. And besides the splintering of services that have spread content over more subscriptions, the platforms themselves are beginning to raise their prices. Now, one popular streaming service has announced that it will add more fees by early next year. Read on to see if your monthly binging budget is about to get thrown out of whack.
READ THIS NEXT: The Saddest TV Episodes of All Time .
iStock
It might not seem like so long ago that streaming services were seen as cutting-edge technology that would shake up how we get our favorite shows and movies. But by now, the industry appears to be well out of its early adopter phase and into a new era of more realistic cost structures.
Shutterstock
Until recently, the company has remained relatively lax in enforcing how many people can share an account . But the streaming service has seen increased competition from major studios releasing their own platforms in recent months, which has changed the playing field amid the company’s own fears of its future financial health, CNet reports.
Shutterstock
While specifics of the new subaccount system weren’t released, Netflix has been testing out sharing fees in Costa Rica, Chile, and Peru for roughly six months, CNet reports. Currently, users in those countries are charged for each user listed on their account who does not watch the service from their household.
Shutterstock
Even though the imminent password-sharing fees mark a massive departure from the company’s policy, Netflix will still make it easy for users to settle into the new system. In a press release on Oct. 17, the company also announced a new Profile Transfer feature that “lets people using your account transfer a profile—keeping the personalized recommendations, viewing history, My List, saved games, and other settings—when they start their own membership.”
And even if users cannot score a heavily-discounted subaccount from a friend or family member, they’ll soon have another option. On Nov. 3, Netflix will officially launch its first ad-supported tier that will drop the price of a subscription to $7 a month, Engadget reports. The new plan will be available in 12 countries, including U.S., U.K., Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, and Spain.
