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Netflix has started charging extra for Blu-ray rentals.
Back in April, there were rumors that Netflix would charge extra for Blu-ray rentals. That rumor has finally become a reality.
Before you get all crazy, just know that Engadget HD is reporting that the increase is only $1 to $2 per month. It stinks, but it was predicted to be a lot worse. It’s just odd that the increase is a range—and only some customers have been slapped with the extra fees so far. It looks like they are still working out who will get charged and how much.
“Consumers are used to paying more for high-definition content,” said Netflix CEO Reed Hastings back in April. A little over a week ago, Hastings said that the increase would be coming soon. Apparently, he meant to say “very soon.”
Have you been hit with the increase yet? Considering the cost of some Blu-ray titles, I don’t think a buck or two extra is all that bad, do you?
Jason - I almost think someone must be breaking your BD’s on purpose. I’ve rented over 100 BD’s from NetFlix and not one failed to play flawlessly.
Any price increase is a bummer.
No one likes to pay more for the same product they have been getting for a lesser price.
So much for BD pricing going down on the rental side after the format war.
Yet with prices going up on many products everywhere, Netflix has a business to run, and they can’t stay at the same pricing forever.
I will gladly pay extra if they can fix the cracking problem! I had to cancel the Blu-ray option because every disc that I got was cracked and unplayable.
Hey cid: I think their reasoning is that Blu-ray discs cost more—so they are passing that cost on to the consumer. However, they just assume that since people are used to pay extra for HD content, they will keep doing so.
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I’ve rented around 60 Blue-rays from Blockbuster online, I’d been dissatisfied with NetFlix for a long time. What the hell was with their Queue? I had some titles on queue for months, never got them, I got them the next day when I switched over to BBV. Some say Netfilx and BBV expedite new customers over old ones, probably true and might be part of what happened.
Anyway of the 60 or so Blue-ray rented around 10 arrived unplayable. about 3-4 had smudges or something and played after being wiped.
One (Men OF Honor) had a decent scratch but played flawlessly. So out of 60 around 15 had issues of some sort. No big deal except getting a replacement disc can take forever.
As for the price increase it is outrageous! It shows the fundamental flaw in HDM. “People will (/should) pay more for it” is the guiding philosophy being hind all of the flowery talk from the Studios about better PQ &AQ;in the end what they actually care about and what it’s all about is the price gouge.
I’ll keep renting Blue-rays, most of the movies I wouldn’t want to watch more than once, not at current prices anyway. As long as there are people like me who’d rather pay a $20 a month over $135 to own 5 blue-ray movies, netflix will make money.