Netflix Faces Backlash

Netflix just announced a new price structure for its services. The mail order DVD service and the streaming service will each now cost $7.99 per month, or $15.98/month for both services. There's no price break for combining the two. Previously, consumers paid $10 per month for both (unlimited) services, so the new price structure amounts to a 60% increase for users.

Snap polls by Silicon Alley Insider and Geekwire show that large numbers of subscribers are threatening to cancel the service in protest. SAI's survey showed that 41% were considering cancelling, while Geekwire's number was 33%. These are not scientific polls, but they speak to the resistance that the Netflix move has created.

But there's one area where the opposite has occurred. Wall Street cheered the move as Netflix stock price broke the $300/share mark immediate following the news of the new pricing plan...only to retreat from that mark as the whole market began to slide.