The price increase that Netflix announced late last month took effect today. Current U.S. subscribers: Don’t panic. You’ll be grandfathered in to your $7.99 per month streaming plans for the next two years. New U.S. subscribers: The service will now cost $8.99 per month. Across the Atlantic, new U.K. customers will pay an additional £1 per month and new customers in the eurozone will pay another €1.
Netflix says the price hike will help it add more movies, TV shows, and original content to its existing library. The increase is the first since 2011, when Netflix angered customers by jacking up fees as much as 60 percent. It’s hoping to avoid a backlash with the new, more moderate transition. And if you want to be really cheap, you can still save a dollar a month by signing up for Netflix’s standard-definition quality plan for single-stream screening.
