NETFLIX users who share accounts with people outside their household are being slapped with charges.
Subscribers will be asked to fork out extra to add members who don’t live with them, in the latest crackdown on account sharing.
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The streaming giant is only testing it in three countries to begin with, before considering a global rollout.
Users in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru will be first to feel the pinch and told to cough up around £2/$2.70 on average, depending on the country.
It’s not clear how Netflix will detect and enforce the new feature, but last year it started testing a prompt warning freeloaders.
Users are banned from sharing their account with those outside their household but Netflix has long turned a blind-eye.
Under the latest crackdown, bill payers will be able to add sub accounts for up to two viewers who live elsewhere without breaking the rules.
Netflix said it has to curb the issue somehow so it can continue to invest in new big budget TV shows and movies.
But with recent subscription hikes, many won’t be pleased about the prospect of being squeezed even further.
Just last week, the Squid Game and Bridgerton hitmaker announced plans to increase UK costs by up to £24 a year.
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Its basic and standard plan prices will go up by £1 a month, to £6.99 and £10.99 respectively.
While customers on the premium package will be charged an extra £2, now costing them £15.99.
Since January, the price was raised in the US and Canada as well.
As part of this new move, the company has announced that subscribers will also be able to transfer profiles to a new account or extra member sub account.
This means they’ll be able to take all their viewing history, favourited shows and personalised recommendations with them.
“We recognise that people have many entertainment choices, so we want to ensure any new features are flexible and useful for members, whose subscriptions fund all our great TV and films,” said Chengyi Long, Netflix’s director of product innovation.
“We’ll be working to understand the utility of these two features for members in these three countries before making changes anywhere else in the world.”
Chile’s extra member price tag comes in at 2,380 CLP (£2.26/$2.98), while those in Costa Rica will be charged $2.99 (£2.27) and 7.9 PEN (£1.61/$2.12) in Peru.
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In other news, prudish Nasa has admitted it may have to study sex in space if humanity is ever going to make it to other planets.
An ancient mega-landslide deep under the ocean has been uncovered which could cause a massive tsunami with “just a little shake in the wrong place”.
Samsung has been accused of throttling the performance of more than 10,000 apps running on its latest smartphone.
And Nasa will let you send your name on a flight around the Moon – for FREE.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
