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Your days of enjoying a combo plan of getting a disc or two via those red envelopes in the mail and streaming content from California-based Netflix are numbered, kids. Starting September 1, the popular site is implementing separate plans for streaming and physical disc borrowing.
This move is "to better reflect the costs of each and to give our members a choice," explains Netflix on their blog.
Uhm, really? If you, like so many of us, are enjoying the $9.99 a month unlimited streaming and one-disc-at-a-time plan, if you'd like to continue enjoying such a set-up, get ready to nearly double what you pay:
[Netflix's] current $9.99 a month membership for unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs will be split into 2 distinct plans: Plan 1: Unlimited Streaming (no DVDs) for $7.99 a month
Plan 2: Unlimited DVDs, 1 out at-a-time (no streaming), for $7.99 a month.
"We think $7.99 is a terrific value for our unlimited streaming plan and $7.99 a terrific value for our unlimited DVD plan," enthuses Netflix. "We hope one, or both, of these plans makes sense for our members and their entertainment needs."
This obviously makes sense for Netflix, who realized that doing the mailed discs for a $2 add-on to the $7.99 streaming was cutting them out of some bucks. However, for the customer who enjoys streaming, but supplements the sometimes paltry offerings with items only available on disc, this is a big f-you. The trouble is, so many of us have come to rely on how we use Netflix--so how many of us will say "f-you" back and close our accounts?
