Netflix: Greed is Good

Netflix Will Prompt Subscribers to Pay for Users Outside Their Households in New Test to Address Unauthorized Password Sharing (EXCLUSIVE)

"We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account, with features like separate profiles and multiple streams in our Standard and Premium plans,” Long wrote in a blog post about the test. “While these have been hugely popular, they have also created some confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared. As a result, accounts are being shared between households — impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films for our members.”

I get why they are doing this. I'm surprised it has taken them this long. They have a right to try to get the people who watch their content to pay for it, but that last line really makes me want to punch someone. That isn't why you are doing this, you greedy, corporate jackasses. You want more money. You know it. We know it. You know we know it. Spare us the bullshit.

 

Meh. Young couple down the street constantly brags about how happy they are with cutting the cable cord and how they just use the streaming services. Yeah, they use the streaming service they pay for. They use ones that their parents pay for even though they're no longer part of the same household. And they use their friends streams. They're so proud of how much less they pay. Of course they pay less, But not because they're smart or frugal. They're just weasling their way around paying for the services they want.

 

Oh, I get it. Honestly, it was that one line in the quote that annoyed the hell out of me.

My legitimate concern is how they will monitor it. What about students going away to college? I have a feeling that they are eventually going to start charging extra for that, too, once they open the door to charging by location.

 

That would suck because we would get caught there, but we already pay the highest Netflix so we legit have more screens that we're allowed to share it on.

 

Amen. This is probably the main reason cord cutters annoy the hell out of me. They're like the Crossfitters or vegans in the way they tout it as a lifestyle. Then if you drill down and ask about what they have and how much they spend, there are usually at least one or two services they're mooching off of someone else.

 

That's my issue with the move by Netflix and the way they worded the justification. I don't trust them to find a way to just stop people from mooching off the accounts of others. They are going to use that as an excuse to charge for use outside of one location, which sucks for people who might want to use their accounts on vacations or for their children while they are away at college.

 

We cut the Netflix cord and haven't missed it, mostly. Much of what we loved went to other platforms.

 

I seriously can’t remember the last time I logged into my Netflix account. Every time I do it’s some standup special from a comic I either don’t like or have never heard of. How much Iliza Shlesinger does a person need for crissakes?

 

Just finished Inventing Anna and there's two movies I want to get to (when hoops isn't on in the next three weeks).

 

I hate when people ask me for my Netflix or Hulu or whatever password. I tell them that as a photographer and writer who gets paid for my IP, I’m not willing to cheat others by not paying for their IP. I usually get an eyeroll or “do you think these corporations give a shit about you?” but I don’t care.

The unwillingness to pay for news has been disastrous for journalism and, by extension, the country. If I want Netflix to keep giving me good content, I need to be willing to pay for it, and others need to do so as well.

 

I agree with all of this, but I also see potential for abuse by the corporations running these streaming services. Got a child away at college who wants to keep watching it? Pay extra. They aren't watching at home any more.

Also, they can talk about investing in new content all they like, but if anything, Netflix has been bleeding content. They have been losing it to Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max and others. Their service is a smaller percentage of the streaming market, yet their prices keep rising relatively quickly. I get your thinking, but this is also driven by greed and I don't see them stopping with people mooching off others' passwords.

 

There is a term for posts like this, and it's escaping me at the moment. Help, anyone?