Netflix Quietly Raises Its 4K Ultra High Definition Subscription Rates

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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If you are already a user of 4K ultra high-def streaming from Netflix, you are good to go for the next two years at the rate you are presently paying. New subscribers, however, will be paying the premium price of $11.99 a month for the same service.

Netflix raised the price of its standard HD package from $7.99 to $8.99 for new subscribers on May 9th.
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Is it even really ultra high definition, or is it just high resolution streaming? I bet the bitrate is still ass.
 
Meh.

I'll worry about 4k several years from now.

1080p is just fine. Doubt I could even tell the difference at normal viewing distances on a TV the same size as my 60" plasma.
 
Price increases.. data cap on internet service..

A few more years it will make more sense to just go back to all OTA and physical discs instead of internet streamed content..
 
jlbenedict said:
Price increases.. data cap on internet service..

A few more years it will make more sense to just go back to all OTA and physical discs instead of internet streamed content..
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Too many regulations now on what we used to call "free internet".
 
felt said:
Too many regulations now on what we used to call "free internet".
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Regulations? It's the lack of regulations that allow companies to do the datacaps and extortion schemes (Netflix slowdowns).
 
Spidey329 said:
Regulations? It's the lack of regulations that allow companies to do the datacaps and extortion schemes (Netflix slowdowns).
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THIS.

Felt has no idea what he is talking about. The internet is a wild west right now, allowing abusive companies to misuse their non-free-market local monopolies to impose unreasonable and anti-competitive limitations on internet.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041158602 said:
THIS.

Felt has no idea what he is talking about. The internet is a wild west right now, allowing abusive companies to misuse their non-free-market local monopolies to impose unreasonable and anti-competitive limitations on internet.
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We like getting screwed and calling it freedom, that's just how we do things here in 'Murica
 
Zarathustra[H];1041158602 said:
THIS.

Felt has no idea what he is talking about. The internet is a wild west right now, allowing abusive companies to misuse their non-free-market local monopolies to impose unreasonable and anti-competitive limitations on internet.
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You realize that when our telecom industry was regulated, we had a government endorsed monopoly that created outrageous fees and rental charges in a massively anti-competative environment.

Finally, the democrats were shown that their regulations failed, and AT&T monopoly was broken up, otherwise your cellular provider today would be AT&T, AT&T, or AT&T.

This didn't stop them though from trying to create similar local regulated monopolies throughout the country, which is why we are in the mess we are in, with insufficient competition between providers.

Deregulation, just as was done to the Texas power grid, is what is needed. That reduced our electricity costs by magnitudes. I pay 8.5 cents per KWH for example no fees, whereas my sister in NY is paying around 13.8 cents with fees. The deregulation done in Texas was smart, where the person that lays the line to your still is compensated at cost for that, but you can get electricity from whatever provider you care for. Likewise, you don't need fifty different fiber lines laid to your house, but you should have fifty different ISPs available to choose from regardless of who laid the line.
 
Ducman69 said:
You realize that when our telecom industry was regulated, we had a government endorsed monopoly that created outrageous fees and rental charges in a massively anti-competative environment.

Finally, the democrats were shown that their regulations failed, and AT&T monopoly was broken up, otherwise your cellular provider today would be AT&T, AT&T, or AT&T.

This didn't stop them though from trying to create similar local regulated monopolies throughout the country, which is why we are in the mess we are in, with insufficient competition between providers.

Deregulation, just as was done to the Texas power grid, is what is needed. That reduced our electricity costs by magnitudes. I pay 8.5 cents per KWH for example no fees, whereas my sister in NY is paying around 13.8 cents with fees. The deregulation done in Texas was smart, where the person that lays the line to your still is compensated at cost for that, but you can get electricity from whatever provider you care for. Likewise, you don't need fifty different fiber lines laid to your house, but you should have fifty different ISPs available to choose from regardless of who laid the line.
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Don't confuse BAD regulation with GOOD regulation.

Yes, the government imposed monopoly was bad for consumers and bad for innovation.
That is no surprise. Monopolies are always bad like that.

Which is why we are in the situation we are now. If we want a truly unrelgulated solution we need to break up all the local monopolies that the Cable/ISP providers have today, even then there will be many defacto monopolies in small communities where ISP's don't want to compete with eachother.

We need regulation today to FIGHT the monopolistic powers that are holding us back, not like the bad old days when we had regulation to impose it.

Unfortunately the right wing political side of the spectrum has an "all regulation is bad regulation" mindset which is a horrifyingly simple minded view of the problem and is leading to more problems than it solves.

Good regulation forces industry to play nice on an even playing field with free market competition. Bad regulation enforces monopolies.

See the difference?
 
Forever swearing off regulation as a point of principle, because we once had bad regulation is throwing out the baby with the bathwater, and is really a strawman-type argument.

Regulation in society is necessary and important in order to prevent criminal abuse.

We need to fix the regulation that exists, not throw it all out and further contribute to the abusive criminal-like "wild west" that is already out there.

People who come in with the "all regulation is bad regulation" mindset are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
 
Come on now Ducman, moar regulations are always the answer. ;)

Lets see, I went from USWest (an original baby bell) to Qwest which was mostly bad but got better towards the end to Century Link. Which now that they have their near monopoly they've been raising rates to where it makes a lot of sense for me to drop my land line and go full cellular with two lines from two diff providers. That or get one of their package deals with basic DSL so I at least get some decent value out of my land line as a backup ISP.

I remember as a kid in the 80s it still being a big deal that you could buy your own telephone to use with the system instead of renting them or buying ATT's brand only.
 
It does look like netflix is upping the number of concurrent screens to 4 with the higher rate and we don't know what the content providers charge netflix for the higher resolution material ... Even at the new rate I think netflix is a good deal
 
Zarathustra[H];1041158657 said:
People who come in with the "all regulation is bad regulation" mindset are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
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And people who still believe in anything but the basics for regulations/laws like say, "do no harm" are hopelessly naive. Call me a purveyor of straw men all you want but I live in a world where people complain about cable tv, internet or cell phone monopolies and then give the federal government a monopoly on their healthcare, schooling or electricity. Often all while arguing to get the government out of their lives in others areas like their bedrooms.
 
I completely forgot about 4K on Netflix. What is even in 4K on Netflix?
 
Megalith said:
I completely forgot about 4K on Netflix. What is even in 4K on Netflix?
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Breaking Bad, House of Cadprds, and some more stuff with more to come.

Guys don't forget you're paying for more then just UHD for the $12 plan. You get also 4 screens at once.
 
Ducman69 said:
I pay 8.5 cents per KWH for example no fees,
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How much did you pay before?

Comparing to someone in NY is like comparing housing costs in Texas to NY or California, then blaming the democrats for the housing costs (although I'm sure you'll do that anyways)
 
How dare they raise their prices for 4k! How can I enjoy 4k on my 1080P TV at those prices?
 
There is a minimum necessary amount of regulation, but it needs to be careful and light. The main problem with slapping on the huge slabs of regulation is that businesses pass the cost of regulation onto the consumer. Regulation tends to stall growth from small and emerging companies. That plays to the advantage of the mega corps that can weather the financial burden, lobby for clauses to laws that work in their favor, and have the large payroll of lawyers and accountants who can scheme every last cent around burdensome regulations. Smaller companies just don't have the resources to compete in the slow molasses swamp of over-regulation.
 
Parmenides said:
Smaller companies just don't have the resources to compete in the slow molasses swamp of over-regulation.
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Yup, the regulation just needs to be limited to:
1) Offering slight advantages to smaller companies, as they need it and you need new companies to bring new business practices and leadership into the market even if many fail.
2) Any regulation just ensuring that competition is promoted first and foremost, while ensuring that everyone is playing by the rules and busting monopolies should they occur (since monopolies are anti-competitive).

Generally speaking though, this is considered very light regulation and hands-off for the most part.
 
This thread got me curious enough to at least take a look at what they've got to offer. Maybe I'm blind, but I can't see anywhere on the site to browse what they've got. Under the FAQ it just says this:

What's the selection like?

We have thousands of other movies & TV episodes available to watch instantly right on your TV via any other device that streams from Netflix...
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I'm really not willing to sign up for the free trial and give them my cc info unless and until I can gauge whether or not I think their selection is worth it to me.
 
I don't see this as an issue, this sort of service is mostly relevant to European customers, we're kinda the DSL of modern internet infrastucture, and this is before factoring in the lack of free market competition like many parts of Europe enjoys.

And I sorta can understand the rate hike considering the pro-telco FCC's deregulation of ISPs, letting them charge for faster lanes and all that, customers gotta pay for that mess in the end I guess.

Maybe if the FCC started by making telcos common carriers then we'd get on the right track at least.
 
B2BigAl said:
Even at twice that price, I still think netflix is a bargain.
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It really depends on what you are looking for.

If you want a service where you want to search for, and find the exact title you are looking for when you want it and play it, Netflix is going to be a major disappointment for you. Quite frankly though, the above would be a rather unreasonable expectation at even 5 times what they are charging.

If you see it as a service where you can poke around and see what they have today, cause you have a couple of hours of time to kill, then it works pretty well!

It's all about expectations.

If you want a service that has all the recent releases and you can select, find and view exactly the title you want, when you want it, expect it to be more like $99 a month, than $8.99.
 
Ducman69 said:
You realize that when our telecom industry was regulated, we had a government endorsed monopoly that created outrageous fees and rental charges in a massively anti-competative environment.

Finally, the democrats were shown that their regulations failed, and AT&T monopoly was broken up, otherwise your cellular provider today would be AT&T, AT&T, or AT&T.

This didn't stop them though from trying to create similar local regulated monopolies throughout the country, which is why we are in the mess we are in, with insufficient competition between providers.

Deregulation, just as was done to the Texas power grid, is what is needed. That reduced our electricity costs by magnitudes. I pay 8.5 cents per KWH for example no fees, whereas my sister in NY is paying around 13.8 cents with fees. The deregulation done in Texas was smart, where the person that lays the line to your still is compensated at cost for that, but you can get electricity from whatever provider you care for. Likewise, you don't need fifty different fiber lines laid to your house, but you should have fifty different ISPs available to choose from regardless of who laid the line.
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AT&T? dergaulation? seriously? Are you mentally ill, stupid, or a combination?

All the ILECs, CLECs, TSRs, access service ordering rules, etc. "Deregulation" actually created a buttload more regulation. Naming it the opposite of what it was didn't make it true.

As for electricity 'deregulation', howabout you compare like to like. I'm in NJ where we pay the line owner and the energy supplier separately as well. I currently pay about 9.1 cents a kwh. My total charge is ~ 17.1 cents because the line owner gets ~ 6 cents. It has to do with the fact that most of the energy to bid on here is expensive to produce. It also has a bunch of rules, so it's not like it removed regulations either despite being called deregulation.

Removal of state granted monopolies might be more like it, and I hate to tell you but it wasn't exactly party specific governing that lead to all these things existing, nor has the move to "deregulation" been something only backed by republicans.

That aside, yes, they should be regarded like telco lines, and have rules put in place for equal access. Creation of TSRs would put an end to this bullshit ASAP.
 
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