NETFLIX has finally decided to axe its cheapest ads-free plan, six months after it stopped offering it to new subscribers.
The so-called Basic plan costs £7.99/£11.99 per month, and has only been available to existing customers since July last year.
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The streaming giant abruptly removed the cheapest ad-free plan from its subscriptions options last year, before hiking prices in October.
The Basic plan will disappear for customers in the UK and Canada in the second quarter of this year.
But folks in the US will be next to see it go.
Executives said the Basic plan will vanish in countries where ad-supported plans are available.
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The announcement came alongside Netflix’s fourth quarter earnings, where bosses revealed the company pulled in $8.83billion in the three months to the end of January – 12 per cent more than the same period a year prior.
On the fourth quarter earnings call, co-CEO Greg Peters said the ad-supported tiers are designed to be a better overall value than the Basic plan.
With the ad plan, he said: “[Customers] get a better plan than Basic, more streams, higher resolution with downloads.
“And of course, the real benefit is they get access to all these amazing stories at a lower effective price.”
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‘Greedy’
After months of subscription shake-ups and price rises, it appears Netflix customers have finally reached the end of their tether.
“I wonder why they’re purposely tanking their platform?” one onlooker asked on X (formerly Twitter).
Another tweeted: “Time to unsubscribe.”
Many have commented on the move saying they are going to cancel their subscriptions, calling the company “greedy”.
Axing the Basic subscription plan leaves Netflix subscribers with the Standard £10.99/$15.49 plan as the cheapest ad-free option.
The decision comes as Netflix made the surprise announcement that it struck a $5billion deal to air the WWE’s Monday Night Raw for the next decade.
The lofty deal will see Netflix host the weekly live show via its streaming platform after more than 30 years on linear television.
Netflix has been investing in 4K picture quality and its gaming suite in recent years.
These are unlikely to be free forever, as executives hinted in Netflix’s fourth quarter report that as they “invest in and improve Netflix, we’ll occasionally ask our members to pay a little extra to reflect those improvements.”
But the company’s deal with WWE marks its biggest push into the sports arena yet.
Netflix Subscription Cost Breakdown
Standard with ads (originally launched as “Basic with ads” last year)
- £4.99 ($6.99) a month
- 1080p picture quality
- no downloads – yet
- your date of birth will be used for advert personalisation purposes
- add one out-of-household user for a fee
- watch on two devices simultaneously
Basic (soon to be disappearing)
- Now £7.99 ($11.99) a month
- no ads
- watch on one device
- not available to new or rejoining subscribers.
Standard
- £10.99 ($15.49) a month
- 1080p picture quality
- downloads allowed
- no ads
- add one extra out-of-household user for a fee
- watch on two devices simultaneously
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Premium
- Now £17.99 ($22.99) a month
- 4K UHD picture quality
- High Dynamic Range (HDR) support
- downloads allowed
- no ads
- add two out-of-household users for a fee
- watch on up to four devices simultaneously
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