Netflix will be raising its prices soon - for some accounts
If you were grandfathered in under older pricing tiers, your monthly subscription might be about to change.
A person displays Netflix on a tablet in North Andover, Mass. (Jan. 17, 2014). Amazon is taking on Netflix and Hulu with a stand-alone video streaming service.
Elise Amendola/AP/File
In May of 2014, Netflix gave its subscribers a heads up that it would be increasing prices from $7.99 to $8.99 per month for its standard streaming plan. However, current customers at the time were guaranteed at least two more years of the per-month price they were used to, while new customers had to pay the higher cost. And last October, Netflix implemented yet another monthly fee jump, to $9.99 a month.
Now, all those loyal subscribers who were grandfathered in at the lower cost are about to be subjected to the price increase. At an additional $24 a year, some customers may question whether the service is still necessary in a marketplace flooded with options.
Everybody Will Be Paying the Same Price by the End of the Year
About 17 million standard accounts are due to increase in price next month. While long-term customers were given notice back in 2014, they've probably forgotten by now that their rates are about to go up. When Netflix introduced the new price of $9.99 per month last October, it again warned current customers their prices would soon increase as well.
Now that time has come, and by the end of the year, all Netflix customers should be paying $9.99 per month for the standard streaming plan.
Check to See When Your Price Will Increase
Based on when you signed up for Netflix (and consequently when your monthly bill is paid), your account might be changing at a different time from everyone else's. In order to see how long your pricing is guaranteed, log into your Netflix account, and go to your profile. There should be an area for "Plan Details" that shows what type of plan you have and how long your price is good for. Based on that, you should be able to roughly tell when your price will increase.
The most common changeover date floating around the internet seems to be May 9, but you should know that Netflix is planning to notify customers by email and within the service itself to alert them to the upcoming price change.
More recent subscribers have a bit more time; if you subscribed before May 2014, Netflix is likely to begin charging you $9.99 per month in May. However, if you subscribed after May 2014, then your jump to $9.99 won't happen until October.
It's safe to assume that by October, we'll all be paying the same amount for the standard streaming plan on Netflix. Note that this final changeover comes as Amazon announces its streaming-only monthly Prime Video plan for $8.99.
This article first appeared in DealNews.