In “hollowing-out of the middle class” news, Netflix is dropping their “Basic” subscription, their cheapest ad-free plan (and the original streaming plan of yore) at $11.99 a month. (This is the plan that was originally $7.99 when Netflix split the billing for DVDs and streaming.)
They’re spinning it as “You’ll save over 40% when we automatically switch you to the ad-supported plan!”
What you need to know:
Your Basic plan is being discontinued, and your new $6.99 Standard with ads plan automatically begins on your next billing date, October 5.
Your new plan includes:
Lower price: Save 40% each month.
Better video quality: Stream in Full HD (1080p).
More devices: Watch and download on 2 household devices at the same time.
A few short ads: Designed to not interrupt you during a scene — and no ads on Kids profiles.
There’s nothing you need to do to keep enjoying Netflix. If you’d like to change your plan to Standard ($15.49/month) or Premium ($22.99/month), you can update your plan anytime. Upgrading to Standard or Premium may change your billing date.
The Basic plan had been grandfathered for quite a while, but it was clearly the sweet spot in the current price lineup, especially if you didn’t need multiple simultaneous devices.
I just cancelled Disney+ over a similar move. Really don’t want to cancel Netflix when this makes it over here (it always does, after a while) but we’ll see.
I don’t know how I feel about Boing Boing’s shop selling a product/service that delivers already free content to you. Sure, it aggregates it all for you, giving you a one stop place to go for it, but there are already free services that do that.
You can get around this by logging onto the Patreon page on a browser instead of using the Patreon app. Apple’s draconian rules also don’t allow them to link to that page, but they can tell you about it.
I’m just going to delete the Patreon app so all my dealings are forced to go through the web. I don’t want to screw up and accidentally screw a content creator out of their money.
EDIT: deleted. Painless. Fuck Apple in their rent-hole.
Now that Apple’s done it, Google might be considering it. On the other hand, maybe the Googlopoly wants to stay out of the negative news for now?
Heh. All these years as a registered Google PlayStore developer, and I have no idea what size they slice they take. (I had a private test app to keep them happy, but they wanted more activity on the account by May to show it wasn’t a zombie. Right in the middle of packing and cleaning out the house… Oh well.)
Deciding on air fryer to buy today. Asked my spouse what he considers important features. “I want a dumb one. If it can connect to the Internet, I don’t want it.”
