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Netflix Canada just got rid of its cheapest ad-free plan without even a heads up

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Re: Netflix Canada just got rid of its cheapest ad-free plan without even a heads up

#21

Post by henry2023 »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #9
nine_zeros wrote: post #4

It just looks like the game is up. Every company is trying to raise prices and squeeze more, so that stock prices remain up. If they could accept a lower stock price instead, they'd just be more stable, and retain loyalty on the other side of the recession curve.

They should have stayed private then. If you're issuing stock you better make sure it goes up or you're paying dividends or nobody will buy it.

Stock going up is not the purpose of public companies. In fact you should always assume that the current price of a security considers all available information and has no reason to diverge from natural market returns.

Re: Netflix Canada just got rid of its cheapest ad-free plan without even a heads up

#22

Post by crazygringo »

> Without Even A Heads Up

Since it only affects new users, and existing users on the plan remain, who cares about a "heads up"?

Maybe it's newsworthy that they dropped the cheapest plan going forwards, but it's not as though there's some expectation that plan changes for new members are supposed to be announced months in advance or something.

When I go to the grocery store and strawberries are now $4.99 instead of $2.99 last week, I don't complain the supermarket didn't give me a "heads up".

Re: Netflix Canada just got rid of its cheapest ad-free plan without even a heads up

#23

Post by paddw »

henry2023 wrote: post #21
2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should have stayed private then. If you're issuing stock you better make sure it goes up or you're paying dividends or nobody will buy it.

Stock going up is not the purpose of public companies. In fact you should always assume that the current price of a security considers all available information and has no reason to diverge from natural market returns.

Company exists to return capital to shareholders. In the absence of a dividend, that has to be from stock price going up. If neither happens, leadership will be changed. Efficient market hypothesis is also nonsense.

Re: Netflix Canada just got rid of its cheapest ad-free plan without even a heads up

#24

Post by JimtheCoder »

Waterluvian wrote: post #6
passwordoops wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the go-to strategy for us as well, but I'll bet you dollars to donuts this is the next target for some sort of crackdown

You’ll have to call Netflix to cancel and they’ll just pass you around the call Center until they hang up by accident.

It's 2023. My ChatGPT based AI agent will continue calling and deliver persuasive Haiku poems requesting a discount on my package. It will persist until it achieves it's desired goal...

Re: Netflix Canada just got rid of its cheapest ad-free plan without even a heads up

#25

Post by jonhohle »

ClassyJacket wrote: post #20
ant6n wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More like, if you cancel, your account gets deleted for good, so you lose your profile with users, history, recommendations. You can pay x/month to pause your membership.

Netflix already deletes your account after 10 months, probably for this specific purpose.

Is that a new policy? I’ve had Netflix off and on since 2008 (for DVD rentals) and still have info from them. I’m pretty sure we’ve been gone for longer than 10-month windows.

Re: Netflix Canada just got rid of its cheapest ad-free plan without even a heads up

#26

Post by cortesoft »

crazygringo wrote: post #22

> Without Even A Heads Up Since it only affects new users, and existing users on the plan remain, who cares about a "heads up"? Maybe it's newsworthy that they dropped the cheapest plan going forwards, but it's not as though there's some expectation that plan changes for new members are supposed to be announced months in advance or something. When I go to the grocery store and strawberries are now $4.99 instead of $2…

I mean, a ton of people complain about the rising cost of groceries.

Re: Netflix Canada just got rid of its cheapest ad-free plan without even a heads up

#27

Post by eek2121 »

Waterluvian wrote: post #2

Tangent: As much as it feels like we just have “bundles” like the bad old cable days, I really enjoy getting to change streaming providers every 2-3 months. My wife and I just Hoover up whatever we’re interested in then move on. And in a year we’ve got that service back and we Hoover up the last year’s added content that looks good. Lots of ways to measure it but when I think about how much I pay and what my experien…

I gave up on that nonsense.I have a raspberry pi that rapidly pulls down new torrents for stuff and processes and/or copies it to my media center for free....which is another raspberry pi.

I've no problem paying for content (I am "upper class"), but companies, especially Netflix clearly haven't figured things out.

For Netflix, I am mostly referring to the account sharing stuff. I did not share my account with anyone, but false advertising rubbed me the wrong way, so they went from whatever their current top tier pricing is to zero from me. Other huge gripes include streaming quality and number of streams.

Re: Netflix Canada just got rid of its cheapest ad-free plan without even a heads up

#28

Post by eduction »

That’s really funny, I was just an hour ago reading this long New York magazine story on streaming consolidation that Pocket suggested to me which contains this line:

“ Netflix claims its Basic With Ads tier brings in more revenue per user than its standard commercial-free plan”

“More revenue” links to https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/ads-on-netflix-12....

Overall story paints a picture of the chickens coming home to roost in streaming https://www.vulture.com/2023/06/streaming-industry-netflix-m...

So I guess it’s not surprising that they would take away the least profitable plan.

Re: Netflix Canada just got rid of its cheapest ad-free plan without even a heads up

#29

Post by morkalork »

mdm_ wrote: post #17

Crave recently did the same thing in Canada, got rid of their $9.99 “mobile” plan, and now the $24.99 subscription is the only choice available for new subscribers. Sucks because all I want to watch is new Star Trek series, which means paying $28/month after tax to watch about 3.5 hours of content.

Pretty much the only thing I use crave for. They haven't been too strict on password sharing so I've been using a family member's account to watch it. In the end it may not even matter, supposedly they'll be losing the series in Canada soon.

Re: Netflix Canada just got rid of its cheapest ad-free plan without even a heads up

#30

Post by whartung »

tzs wrote: post #16
Waterluvian wrote: post #2

Tangent: As much as it feels like we just have “bundles” like the bad old cable days, I really enjoy getting to change streaming providers every 2-3 months. My wife and I just Hoover up whatever we’re interested in then move on. And in a year we’ve got that service back and we Hoover up the last year’s added content that looks good. Lots of ways to measure it but when I think about how much I pay and what my experien…

That's a pretty good approach, but there is one drawback that may be significant for some. You see a movie or show and then want to talk about it with your friends and find that they've all either won't be back on the right streaming service for a new months or they've seen it months ago and aren't that interested in talking about it any more.

That’s just a reality. I tend to not binge shows. Rather I try to slot them into one of my weekly slots.

Since I limit my weekly intake, I also start shows late. A typical conversation for even a new show is as along the lines of “Oh yeah, we binged the entire thing!”

I’ve learned it’s not worth talking about the show to someone who’s seen it since they’re more often than not bursting wanting to talk about something I haven’t seen. Or 2 months later when I’m done, they’ve forgotten a bunch of it anyway, moving on to other stuff I haven’t seen.

It’s not like the old days when there were forums for shows like “Lost” just abuzz with speculation.

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