Time to Change the Channel on Netflix

Imagine my surprise when I opened an email from Netflix Tuesday to discover that my current plan is jumping from $10 a month to $16 a month. Sure, that doesn’t seem like a huge jump (come on, Sarah, it’s only $6), but it is a pretty large hike–60 percent, to be exact.

Netflix announced that they are raising rates on monthly plans that allow customers to get unlimited streaming and one DVD out at a time.

I’m sure that when the people over at Netflix submitted their blog post about the new prices yesterday, they expected some level of backlash. How could they not? In short, they turned a service that cost $10 into a service that costs $16 without adding anything new.

The upcoming Netflix price increases has the Internet in an absolute tizzy. Their blog post announcing the upcoming price hikes quickly filled up with the 5000 comment limit, and although every comment wasn’t sifted through, the word “backlash” is absolutely fitting.

Netflix on Tuesday announced significant changes to its pricing plans that include a 60% price bump on combination DVD and streaming plans. The new changes go into effect September 1 for existing members. Netflix customers, if you couldn”t already guess, …

Yesterday, Netflix did something almost unthinkable in this economy — dramatically increased prices for many customers. I asked for your reaction, and, whoa, did you give it. To recap: Netflix separated its DVD and streaming plans. Under the old arrangement, subscribers could rent one DVD at a time and get unlimited streaming for $8.99.

With over 23 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada, Netflix has roughly 25 times more paying customers than competing online video service Hulu Plus. However, Hulu is by far the more dominant streaming service when it comes to social interaction, according to data collected by social media listening firm Mashworks.

Talk about backlash. I’ve yet to see one comment anywhere supporting Netflix’s price hikes and for good reason. Netflix announced a new pricing scheme yesterday that effectively raised the price of a popular subscription plan by 60%. Instead of costing $9.99 for streaming and DVD rental, Netflix separated the services and priced them each $7.99, which results in a combined cost of $16.

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The renewed deal not only assures that content from shows such as Saturday Night Live and The Office will remain on Netflix, but it also expands the deal to include shows such as Leave it to Beaver, Psych and Law and Order: SVU. The deal also covers a selection of NBC Universal’s film library.

Netflix and NBC Universal have renewed and expanded their live video streaming deal, bringing more content to Netflix. The agreement comes as customer anger mounts over a major price increase for Netflix DVD and streaming services.