Do you have a family Netflix account? Do you like to set your kids up with Tangled while you are watching The Human Centipede? Well, that’s too damn bad, because Netflix is restricting your ability to simultaneous stream content. While there has always been a hypothetical cap on simultaneous streaming, Netflix is now enforcing the rule. If you want to keep streaming two videos at once, you need to pony up for the $19.98/month plan that also comes with two DVDs. Note that this is a linear thing, and three streams requires the three DVD plan (23.98) and four requires four ($29.98).
I guess I can understand the rationale behind this, and I know that it won’t affect a lot of people, but it could not have come at a worse time. First they raise prices, then they lose Starz content, and now they’re requiring everyone to pay that higher price for even less. If there was ever a time when a Netflix competitor had a better shot at taking a chunk of their market share, I can’t think of it. Now is the time for some real competition in the streaming space. Amazon and Hulu definitely need to up their games, but some other companies need to jump at this as well. Netflix is weak, but they have an effective monopoly in the subscription streaming space and are taking advantage of it.
[Via The Consumerist]
