Netflix wants to retire basic ad-free plan in some countries, shareholder letter says (www.cbsnews.com)
from ZeroCool@slrpnk.net to technology@lemmy.world on 25 Jan 2024 11:14
https://slrpnk.net/post/6100310

Netflix will implement the change in Canada and the U.K. in the second quarter of the year before “taking it from there,” the letter said.

The company did not specify when (or whether) the change would impact U.S. subscribers.

#technology

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ZeroCool@slrpnk.net on 25 Jan 2024 11:17 next collapse

…And the enshittification era of streaming services continues unabated.

lurch@sh.itjust.works on 25 Jan 2024 12:07 collapse

In theory, that would be the time for someone to step up and make their own streaming service with blackjack and hookers, but no ads.

14th_cylon@lemm.ee on 25 Jan 2024 12:34 collapse

that theory doesn’t really work here, because you don’t have what they have.

if someone makes bread, you can also start making bread and people don’t care, it is still a bread.

if someone has and sells game of thrones, you can’t just make your own game of thrones with blackjack and hookers. you can make something similar, but it is not going to be the same and some people will still want to see game of thrones, which is why the market is so fragmented.

Enk1@lemmy.world on 25 Jan 2024 14:46 collapse

Most streaming content is licensed, not owned by the streaming platform. Anyone could start their own streaming service and get licenses for existing content, assuming they had the capital to do so.

14th_cylon@lemm.ee on 25 Jan 2024 15:46 collapse

That is increasingly not true, which is why there is so many different platforms - every rights owner rather starts their own platform, than licensing to someone else and sharing the profit.

bassomitron@lemmy.world on 25 Jan 2024 19:45 collapse

And even if they’re willing to license, it’s usually at an exorbitant cost that it’s unsustainable at prices people are willing to pay for your platform. Netflix had said Friends was costing them tens of millions of dollars to keep on their platform: digitaltrends.com/…/netflix-friends-100-million-s…

When a rumor began circulating in December 2018 that ’90s sitcom Friends would not be available on Netflix after this year, the notion seemed to wake a sleeping giant, with subscriber uproar quickly leading to a deal that reportedly cost the streaming service $100 million to retain the popular show through 2019.

$100 million for one year. Insanity.

autotldr@lemmings.world on 25 Jan 2024 11:20 next collapse

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Netflix users in some countries will soon have to pay more to watch TV and movies without advertisements.

In a shareholder letter from Tuesday, the streaming service said it’s looking to “retire” its cheapest ad-free plan in “some of our ads countries.”

Netflix will implement the change in Canada and the U.K. in the second quarter of the year before “taking it from there,” the letter said.

Last year, Netflix stopped allowing new and returning subscribers in the U.S., U.K. and Canada to select its basic plan.

American subscribers who were grandfathered into Netflix’s basic plan saw a price hike last year after Netflix raised that plan’s price from $9.99 to $11.99 a month.

The video streaming service also started a crackdown on password sharing last year.


The original article contains 302 words, the summary contains 125 words. Saved 59%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

Fixbeat@lemmy.ml on 25 Jan 2024 11:28 next collapse

I’m angry about this…because I can’t cancel my Netflix again.

Hotdogman@lemmy.world on 25 Jan 2024 12:10 collapse

Just cancel somebody else’s subscription.

EmergMemeHologram@startrek.website on 25 Jan 2024 13:05 collapse

Just sign up for tinder and go on Netflix and chill dates, when your date goes to the bathroom cancel their subscription and slip out the door.

LemmyNameMyself@lemmy.world on 25 Jan 2024 11:31 next collapse

I wonder where they got that idea from

ripcord@lemmy.world on 26 Jan 2024 04:31 collapse

80 years of precedent?

NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world on 25 Jan 2024 11:32 next collapse

That’s okay, I already canceled my Netflix like a year ago.

twinnie@feddit.uk on 25 Jan 2024 11:36 next collapse

And now Prime is doing the same, and Disney wants to tackle password sharing. If everyone had just cancelled Netflix when they started this shit we’d be paying $5 per month and we’d be sharing passwords on all of our streaming services.

Yoz@lemmy.world on 25 Jan 2024 12:39 next collapse

People are not that smart. Can’t work collectively which is great for capitalism.

Example: 9-5s collectively are way too important for economy , without them economy would not function but individually they are not important and easily replaceable. Hence they teach you not to discuss salary, create hierarchy, fancy job titles etc.

AdmiralShat@programming.dev on 25 Jan 2024 12:51 collapse

We really need like a consumers union type organization. I know it would require work, but I guarantee if millions of people got the “Hey just don’t have Netflix for a couple months and we’ll get what we want” memo, then millions of people would have stuck together

JCreazy@midwest.social on 25 Jan 2024 14:44 next collapse

I canceled my Prime subscription when they announced they were going to put ads in prime video. I don’t even use Prime Video. It’s the principle.

Syntha@sh.itjust.works on 26 Jan 2024 05:00 collapse

And Netflix would still be unprofitable

deleted@lemmy.world on 25 Jan 2024 11:59 next collapse

Sail the high seas guys

Deceptichum@kbin.social on 25 Jan 2024 12:22 next collapse

If you just wanna stream shit, can I also recommend https://fmoviesz.to/

deleted@lemmy.world on 25 Jan 2024 14:16 collapse

Thanks!!

It might help others since I have a selfhosted *arr setup with Jellyfin.

ZeroCool@slrpnk.net on 25 Jan 2024 12:33 next collapse

Yeah that’s an option but it’s not going to be a practical solution for everyone. Most people on Lemmy are more tech savvy than average so they’ll be fine but there are plenty of people who lack the knowledge and skill. And that sucks because people have shown repeatedly that they are more than willing to pay a reasonable rate for the content they want. But these greedy fucks decided they all needed their own service. So now content is fractured across a dozen different apps that are only getting more expensive and ad riddled.

It just plain sucks that your options are either piracy or being constantly fucked over to benefit shareholders.

IWantToFuckSpez@kbin.social on 25 Jan 2024 13:09 next collapse

At some point, when prices get too high, people will seek out someone who can help them pirate. Like I’ve already installed Kodi and Stremio with an Alldebrid account on a TV or Android box for many of my friends

deleted@lemmy.world on 25 Jan 2024 14:21 collapse

It’s already happening where I live.

Almost 70% of my friends subscribed with IPTV pirated content for like $20 a year.

You basically pay someone to host pirated content for you and stream it using IPTV apps.

jvrava9@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 25 Jan 2024 13:21 next collapse

Just download streamio and add the torrentio add-on and you’re done.

InfiniWheel@lemmy.one on 25 Jan 2024 13:58 collapse

Its the whole pay for VPN that stops people, or at least that’s what I’ve seen.

jvrava9@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 25 Jan 2024 14:02 collapse

You don’t need a vpn, its like streaming from a site, not downloading.

Mirodir@discuss.tchncs.de on 25 Jan 2024 15:13 next collapse

I haven’t personally used it but from what I can find: if you’re using torrents with Stremio (e.g. the ones found with torrentio) you are totally uploading parts of what you’re watching to others.

InfiniWheel@lemmy.one on 25 Jan 2024 18:43 next collapse

Doesn’t the name Torrentio imply that its getting it from a Torrent? Or am I misunderstanding?

USSEthernet@startrek.website on 25 Jan 2024 23:08 collapse

I’m sorry you’re getting downvoted by people who don’t know how alldebrid, realdebrid, and premiumize work and refuse to look it up.

TimeSquirrel@kbin.social on 25 Jan 2024 15:09 next collapse

They'll figure out a way. Back in my youth, the kids at school who got a CD burner first were making bank. In the 80s it was sketchy guys at flea markets with boxes of tapes. Need drives innovation.

small44@lemmy.world on 25 Jan 2024 17:50 collapse

Our grandmothers may not know how but most people have enough knowledge to find the right piracy websites, download pirated content and install a vpn

Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 26 Jan 2024 03:03 collapse

Yar-har-fiddle-dee-dee

tranceFusion@lemm.ee on 25 Jan 2024 13:57 next collapse

I’m in the US and I only have Standard as an option in my account. Is that the same as Basic or did they get rid of it here already?

TORFdot0@lemmy.world on 25 Jan 2024 14:04 next collapse

The quality of Netflix content does not reflect cost of the subscription. I’m back to buying DVDs

ZeroCool@slrpnk.net on 25 Jan 2024 14:11 collapse

Yeah, I own a lot of my favorites on dvd/bluray, particularly movies that for one reason or another have never been available on streaming. Unfortunately there’s an emerging trend of retailers removing DVD’s and Blu Ray media from their stores. So while physical media isn’t exactly hard to buy yet, unless something happens to reverse this trend it’s going to gradually become more difficult to buy physical media.

TORFdot0@lemmy.world on 25 Jan 2024 14:31 collapse

If new releases aren’t going to be available in stores, I simply won’t watch them when they come to home video anymore. The upside would be that I will be more motivated to see movies while they are still in theaters which I’ve sorely lacked going to see them ever since the pandemic

FluorideMind@lemmy.world on 25 Jan 2024 14:19 next collapse

Let em, not like I’m paying for it anyway.

AtmaJnana@lemmy.world on 25 Jan 2024 15:19 next collapse

Joke’s on them, I already retired it in my house.

🏴‍☠️

crazyminner@lemmy.ml on 25 Jan 2024 17:06 next collapse

Setup a jellyfin server for me, friend and family and I haven’t look back.

Fades@lemmy.world on 26 Jan 2024 08:45 collapse

Same, invested in a nice QNAP NAS and I haven’t thought about a single streaming service in years

cammelspit@lemm.ee on 25 Jan 2024 18:40 next collapse

Not surprised really. Netflix was part of my cellphone plan, when I switched plans, I just couldn’t rationalize it anymore. I remember as a young working teenager loving how I could just mail those DVDs back and forth. I’ve never not had a Netflix since they first launched. Feels odd really, but ultimately I just can’t abide their shenanigans.

phx@lemmy.ca on 26 Jan 2024 02:25 collapse

Why is Canada anyways first in line to get assf***Ed?!

ripcord@lemmy.world on 26 Jan 2024 03:26 collapse

Sadly it ends up being a fairly good test market for the US.

Some good stuff starts in Canada as a result, too.