Netflix, the 10-million member video disc rental firm, is raising its monthly subscriber fees for Blu-ray customers, which it said this week now constitutes nearly 10 percent of its users. The amount of the monthly increase depends on which of several rental plans already is in force.
The price bumps do not affect subscribers who continue to rent standard DVDs and do not access Blu-ray content.
Citing the increased cost of producing and purchasing Blu-ray packaged content over DVDs, and the cost of growing Netflix's Blu-ray library (which is now passing 1,300 titles) Netflix Marketing Vice President Jessie Becker posted a notice on the firm's Facebook page (and elsewhere) detailing the new fee schedule for Blu-ray users. Blu-ray subs also will receive e-mail reminders prior to the new billing schedule taking effect.
The new Blu-ray fees (below in italics), which range between $1 and $4 monthly for most plans, will begin no sooner than April 27 for existing Blu-ray subs, and are based on these existing plans:
1 DVD at-a-time (2 DVDs a month)
Monthly plan cost: $4.99
Plus additional monthly Blu-ray charge: $1
1 DVD at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $8.99
Plus additional monthly Blu-ray charge: $2
2 DVDs at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $13.99
Plus additional monthly Blu-ray charge: $3
3 DVDs at-a-time (Unlimited)
Monthly plan cost: $16.99
Plus additional monthly Blu-ray charge: $4
