Netflix Starts Booting Subscribers Off Cheapest Basic Ads-Free Plan

[szw-mapple fan]

The idea of paying to watch ads for me is insane. Even if it it only costs a 1 cent.

Capitalism at its finest.

edit: for those who disagree, well, keep defending a billionaire company while they charge you to watch ads the only moment you have to relax in your day while they increase their revenue and worsen your experience

I totally get the feeling. It more or less brings us back to the terrible status quo of cable TV, when we were also paying for ad supported shows.

 

[Cloysterpeteuk]

I’m not a huge fan of Netflix, I can take it or leave it, there’s not a huge amount I can be bothered to watch on there. I’ve still got it but only because I pay for Disney and my brother pays for Netflix, I would just cancel it otherwise. To be honest I preferred the old tv show model, 20-24 episodes a year, this modern thing of releasing 6-8 episodes and then a crazy long wait for some more isn’t for me.

But I’ve got no time for it anyway, I have a lot of YouTube channels I would rather watch now but I mostly prefer reading my novels or gaming to watching stuff on Netflix.

 

[subjonas]

They are better because data shows most people will pay when the price (and the UX) is right.

One of my coworkers from India brought this up. They had rapid piracy and stopped it by making DVDs affordable, it didn't make sense to buy the crappy pirated copy when you could get the real thing for a little more.

In reading how questionable accounting is for movies too, I don't feel bad for them. They are very flexible about if a movie was profitable or not.

After the whole thing decades ago about CD prices being jacked up when it cost like $0.50 to make and artists were being screwed by contracts, I had no sympathy when file sharing sites came up. The record companies made their money, and I never got a discount for rebuying the same albums I had prior on cassette or record.

Sorry but the industries screwed themself, and Netflix is going in the same direction.

The mental gymnastics people do to justify their greed and sense of entitlement. It would be much more respectable if you just owned up to your theft.
Pirates only stop stealing when the industry loses so much money that companies have no choice but to offer their product for next to nothing just to keep the industry from completely collapsing. Pirating wrecked the music industry. Artists are getting paid beans through streaming. The movie/TV industry inevitably followed the streaming model, and now the industry as a whole is struggling to make a profit because people are so unwilling to pay for content, even though movies and TV are so exorbitantly expensive to produce. If piracy becomes rampant again, there's no where left for the industry to go.
In your "righteous stand" against corporations, you're trampling over artists both successful and struggling alike, and countless people just doing their jobs--all for something you neither need nor deserve but merely want.

 

[Zest28]

The mental gymnastics people do to justify their greed and sense of entitlement. It would be much more respectable if you just owned up to your theft.
Pirates only stop stealing when the industry loses so much money that companies have no choice but to offer their product for next to nothing just to keep the industry from completely collapsing. Pirating wrecked the music industry. Artists are getting paid beans through streaming. The movie/TV industry inevitably followed the streaming model, and now the industry as a whole is struggling to make a profit because people are so unwilling to pay for content, even though movies and TV are so exorbitantly expensive to produce. If piracy becomes rampant again, there's no where left for the industry to go.
In your "righteous stand" against corporations, you're trampling over artists both successful and struggling alike, and countless people just doing their jobs--all for something you neither need nor deserve but merely want.

There is no theft, it is just a digital copy. Nothing of value is lost if someone copies a digital file. They were not going to pay for it in any case against super high prices so they didn't loose a sale.

And poor Taylor Swift is very mad that people pirate her music, seeing that Taylor Swift is a billionaire from making music.

And let me tell you a little secret, artists pirate themselves too. I know because I knew a few professional artists signed for record labels personally back in the days when I was also active as a music producer. It was so bad, software makers had to create hardware dongles like iLok and all kinds of other crap because artists were pirating music software like crazy. If I told some people about some expensive plugins I owned, people automatically assumed that I pirated it while I actually bought it. So cry me a river about those poor artists who pirate themselves too.

 

[Burnincoco]

You guys have no idea of the services we have available in Latin America because of all the anti consumer policies and eternal imagnary borders.
we poop on your prices
What is not available in my area? Lol

 

[Suicidy]

The idea of paying to watch ads for me is insane. Even if it it only costs a 1 cent.

Capitalism at its finest.

edit: for those who disagree, well, keep defending a billionaire company while they charge you to watch ads the only moment you have to relax in your day while they increase their revenue and worsen your experience

Yeah….., let’s have a bunch of government bureaucrats decide what tv will be like. I’m sure that will work much better.

 

[AssassuN]

I wonder when it'll actually backfire for them. Somehow, miraculously, their data continues to suggest that a price hike is viable - meaning not enough people are cancelling even now.
We truly live in echo chambers online because from all the backlash, you'd think we're far past the final straw, yet they continue to get away with it.

 

[The1Biz]

The mental gymnastics people do to justify their greed and sense of entitlement. It would be much more respectable if you just owned up to your theft.
Pirates only stop stealing when the industry loses so much money that companies have no choice but to offer their product for next to nothing just to keep the industry from completely collapsing. Pirating wrecked the music industry. Artists are getting paid beans through streaming. The movie/TV industry inevitably followed the streaming model, and now the industry as a whole is struggling to make a profit because people are so unwilling to pay for content, even though movies and TV are so exorbitantly expensive to produce. If piracy becomes rampant again, there's no where left for the industry to go.
In your "righteous stand" against corporations, you're trampling over artists both successful and struggling alike, and countless people just doing their jobs--all for something you neither need nor deserve but merely want.

From what I understand artists were always getting screwed by record corporations with predatory contracts. NIN and Radiohead a while back found that a DIY pay what you want model worked better and got them more money in the long run.

Steve Albini (RIP) wrote this and it seemed spot on. He later followed on with how the internet fixed things.

Steve Albini: The Problem with Music

"Some of your friends are probably already this f*cked"

matthewscottkelemen.substack.com

When artists have to earn their living from touring and merch at concerts I'd say it's a bigger problem than pirating that wrecked the music industry. Bands barely get any money from album sales. Part of it is bad financial understanding of the band itself, especially with younger people. Record labels never did artists many favors either.

 

[The1Biz]

This is what's killing the US, Corporate GREED and Apple is just another part of it.

I have to agree it's going in this direction with Apple. I know know this is a Netflix thread but it's a Apple fan website, so I think it's on topic to discuss.

Reading what Windows 11 is with regard to ads and tracking has me saying it's an absolute no. I won't use it, and my gaming Windows machine is staying at 10 for its useful life. The telemetry is bad enough on Windows 10.

I was surprised when I updated from Big Sur to Sonoma how System Settings added in Apple Privacy. Why does my OS need this? It was bad enough iOS had it, now my Mac computer is getting more efficient at tracking me? I noticed that News, Stocks, Podcasts are all added in to the OS and can't be deleted like they can in iOS. I know Apple was snooping on what people had in their tracked stocks which seemed like a pretty bold privacy invasion. Books, Music, and the App Store are all a sales channel and are pretty integrated now. I don't like it. OS X is all about wringing as much money out of customers as possible.

To replace my old iPad and aging Windows machine as a traveling computer, I bought a Dell off business lease machine and installed Mint Linux. It's a simple enough OS that runs programs, and I don't have to deal with store integration like MS, XBox sales, and all the other garbage. Part of this is a exploration of using it to see if I can live with Linux as the computer to run my life on (instead of currently using my MacBook Air). I have to say I'm not a power user and Linux is doing all I need it to.

I'm not buying a new iPad, and this will probably be my last iPhone and Mac computer as I don't want all the AI garbage that is being pushed into tech in the future.

 

[The1Biz]

I totally get the feeling. It more or less brings us back to the terrible status quo of cable TV, when we were also paying for ad supported shows.

I'm going in the direction of antenna TV only and paying for a streaming service for a month when there is something I want to watch. Cable is unwatchable and severely overpriced. It's getting into where I'd rather find something else to do than watch TV and I only really watch the morning and evening news which are over the air.

 

[Bungaree.Chubbins]

Yeah….., let’s have a bunch of government bureaucrats decide what tv will be like. I’m sure that will work much better.

Much better to have corporations decide what we can have, hey?

 

[michaelscarn]

Cable is unwatchable and severely overpriced.

Peacock has live TV channels. The other day I used them to watch a show I can't otherwise stream. The number of ads was insane. They even cut jokes from the show and subtly sped up portions to fit more ads. Can't believe I ever paid for that! 😵

 

[SalisburySam]

we poop on your prices

Thank you, thank you for this morning’s coffee-out-the-nose laugh. Love the phrase, and it’s meaning(s)!

 

[cgs1xx]

I think Netflix is getting a little trigger happy with their crackdown on password sharing… the other day I opened the app on my iPhone and the message popped up that I wasn’t part of the household 🙄
I was literally in my home, in my bed! but not on the wifi.

Yes, I’m slightly off topic I know!

 

[I7guy]

Much better to have corporations decide what we can have, hey?

They already do.

 

[subjonas]

There is no theft, it is just a digital copy. Nothing of value is lost if someone copies a digital file. They were not going to pay for it in any case against super high prices so they didn't loose a sale.

And poor Taylor Swift is very mad that people pirate her music, seeing that Taylor Swift is a billionaire from making music.

And let me tell you a little secret, artists pirate themselves too. I know because I knew a few professional artists signed for record labels personally back in the days when I was also active as a music producer. It was so bad, software makers had to create hardware dongles like iLok and all kinds of other crap because artists were pirating music software like crazy. If I told some people about some expensive plugins I owned, people automatically assumed that I pirated it while I actually bought it. So cry me a river about those poor artists who pirate themselves too.

More desperate clawing for justification.

It's pretty convenient pirates "never would have paid for the content anyway". Of course that's utter nonsense because besides no one knowing the future, how could anyone know if they would pay for it if they always have a "free" option? One thing you may not realize is that to a pirate the content is not worth the "high" price precisely because they are a pirate--ie. ease of access decreases value perception. To a pirate stealing is an option, so their subjective/perceived value of the content dramatically plummets compared to those who don't see stealing as an option. It's circular reasoning--they steal because it's not worth the price because they steal. And enough people became pirates that the industry had to practically give away music (at the expense of the artists as well as labels), so now even non-pirates have a devalued perception of content.

Your latter two paragraphs are also not actual justifications, but I don't think I need to convince you of that.

 

[subjonas]

From what I understand artists were always getting screwed by record corporations with predatory contracts. NIN and Radiohead a while back found that a DIY pay what you want model worked better and got them more money in the long run.

Steve Albini (RIP) wrote this and it seemed spot on. He later followed on with how the internet fixed things.

Steve Albini: The Problem with Music

"Some of your friends are probably already this f*cked"

matthewscottkelemen.substack.com

When artists have to earn their living from touring and merch at concerts I'd say it's a bigger problem than pirating that wrecked the music industry. Bands barely get any money from album sales. Part of it is bad financial understanding of the band itself, especially with younger people. Record labels never did artists many favors either.

Sure, there are many many stories of artists getting screwed by record labels. Of course. No industry is all roses, and the entertainment industries have always been particularly bad.

But there are many labels, big and small, and many people within labels, not all evil--some conduct business fairly, and many even truly love music and artists. The music industry has always had only a limited number of stars, but there was a larger set of artists who were able to make a living through album/song sales, whereas now that set able to make a living through streaming has shrunk. Streaming is mainly now a mode of discovery. This does benefit some artists--namely new artists who now have wide exposure. But that's questionable as new artists get buried in a sea of artists, but at least there's a theoretical chance. And it's not that streaming is bad. It's the fact that people are barely willing to pay anything for it and recorded music in general, which is a result of piracy, that makes life hard for recording artists. Yes, many artists had to make their money through live shows and other means before, but now is even more so the case. And constant life on the road is hard in general, but it puts some recording artists at so much disadvantage that it's just not feasible for them.

It would be a different story if customers were willing to pay more for music subscriptions, then more artists could make a living. But again, pirating destroyed that possibility because it has resulted in a society-wide devaluation of content.

 

[Powerbooky]

they can seriously F off.

I am no longer able to use Netflix on my iPhone and iPad without sending myself a code (which is limited to a certain amount if I am not mistaken) because the stupid Apps claim that I am travelling even though I am at home. I think it is related to having logged into an Android TV in an AirBnB in Sweden in May (I logged out of the TV when we left).

I can only use it on my Apple TV for some reason. One of the reasons to go the legal route used to be "convenience" but clearly that is no longer the case.

Have you checked your account using your browser? There's a good change that the AirBnB TV still is registered - in worst case someone is using your account. That's why we take our ATV 4K along to avoid all the annoyances.

OT... at this moment we'll keep the Netflix ad-free plan. Me and my family hate ads! That's one of the reasons why we dumped regular TV (cable, sat) in the first place.

 

[Powerbooky]

And poor Taylor Swift is very mad that people pirate her music, seeing that Taylor Swift is a billionaire from making music.

And let me tell you a little secret, artists pirate themselves too. I know because I knew a few professional artists signed for record labels personally back in the days when I was also active as a music producer. It was so bad, software makers had to create hardware dongles like iLok and all kinds of other crap because artists were pirating music software like crazy. If I told some people about some expensive plugins I owned, people automatically assumed that I pirated it while I actually bought it. So cry me a river about those poor artists who pirate themselves too.

Well... you know that as music producer, most artists make more money from doing concerts these days. For some it's even the majority of their income.

And yes, music production software was copied like hell in the previous decades. And it's not specific to the media business.
I know from some one in the family that worked for an electronics firm that designed special equipment for the military also used illegal copies of software. They bought one licence, then x-rayed the dongle to see the circuit inside and make their own dongle (the easiest thing for them). The excuse was that they needed a copy just in case the original dongle died and replacing it would take too much time (and money). Of course they just wanted more computers running the software to speed up the development and training.

Pirating digital media is something that can't be stopped, they can only make it harder and less profitable.

 

[Galas]

I was a netflix suscriber for 10 years. 4k plan for the last 4. But those shady practices ended up pushing me away. Not regretting it by any means. Glad I moved away

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

The mental gymnastics people do to justify their greed and sense of entitlement. It would be much more respectable if you just owned up to your theft.
Pirates only stop stealing when the industry loses so much money that companies have no choice but to offer their product for next to nothing just to keep the industry from completely collapsing. Pirating wrecked the music industry. Artists are getting paid beans through streaming. The movie/TV industry inevitably followed the streaming model, and now the industry as a whole is struggling to make a profit because people are so unwilling to pay for content, even though movies and TV are so exorbitantly expensive to produce. If piracy becomes rampant again, there's no where left for the industry to go.
In your "righteous stand" against corporations, you're trampling over artists both successful and struggling alike, and countless people just doing their jobs--all for something you neither need nor deserve but merely want.

That's bold of you to assume I pirate software/music/movies/etc. I come at it from a UX standpoint, not whether it's right or wrong, but you enjoy your time up on your soapbox, bro.

 

[Fred Zed]

But isn't this kind of silly for Netflix to assume that every time you log in to another TV, it is your "home" like what if you are on a Eurotrip and change Hotel every 2 days. Aren't they going to block you eventually for changing your "home" too often (from their point of view)?

Yeah Amazon Prime TV allowed me to log on to my streaming device when I was overseas but it limited its library of films. It even said so on the main screen at the time.

 

[Crowbot]

Yeah Amazon Prime TV allowed me to log on to my streaming device when I was overseas but it limited its library of films. It even said so on the main screen at the time.

Would a VPN help?

 

[Fred Zed]

Would a VPN help?

Probably. But I wasn’t that interested in watching Amazon streams, I had taken my Shield TV Pro streaming device with me and was really curious to see what would work and what wouldn’t plus to show my father it’s a better alternative to Roku for his case use.

 

[Letterman]

Why does Netflix need so much more money? What expenses do they have that have risen so much?

Probably to fund their filming studios, staff and actors in all of their own productions. Same for Apple TV, Amazon, and Disney. Basically they are all the "new" Hollywood.