This morning, Netflix introduced a new streaming-only plan. For $7.99 a month, customers can watch unlimited television episodes and movies (chosen from those that are available on the limited service) from a computer or Netflix-enabled TV.
Buried in the announcement, Netflix also rolled out price hikes for its DVD subscription services. The two most popular plans -- those that allow you to stream an unlimited number of movies or shows but also check out one or two DVDs at a time -- are increasing by $1 per month. The other plans will cost x dollars more per month, where x is the number of DVDs that you can have checked out at any one time. (i.e., the four DVD plan will go from $23.99 to $27.99 per month.)
For those of us who are already Netflix subscribers, the price hikes won't appear on our bills until January. New subscribers have to pay the new prices.
This announcement has been anticipated for some time. Canadian users have long enjoyed an $8/month streaming-only option and, about two months ago, rumors started circulating that Netflix was considering a similar plan for the United States. It was never anticipated, though, that prices would be going up.
And that's because it doesn't really make sense.