Netflix may charge you even more to watch its shows, movies soon

Streaming giant Netflix is reportedly planning to increase the price of its streaming service again — starting with the US and Canada first — to make up for the revenue lost during the Hollywood strike. The company might issue the price hike a “few months” after the strike ends, which could happen in the coming weeks, reports The Verge. The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. It also remains to be seen how much will the price be hiked, and whether or not the price increase will affect other markets. According to The Verge, Netflix is considering hiking the price of its subscription in “several markets globally.” Also Read: After Netflix, Amazon Prime Video adds ‘Clips’ feed: Here’s how it changes what you watch

Over 15,000 television and film actors went on strike in July to demand higher pay and residual payments from streaming services. The Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, a union that represents around 160,000 actors, has been on strike after the union failed to reach an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers regarding residuals and the use of AI. They were following in the footsteps of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which has been on strike since May 2. Also Read: Netflix working on AI voice search that understands what you want to watch

Last year, Netflix raised the prices of all of its plans, raising the ad-free Standard tier to $15.49 per month and the Premium plan to $19.99 per month. The company also introduced a $6.99 per month ad-supported plan and later discontinued its $9.99 per month basic ad-free plan. India prices went down instead. The company cracked down on password sharing earlier this year and began charging an additional $7.99 per month to share your account with someone outside your household. The company has expanded its password-sharing curbs to most markets, including India. However, there is no information on additional user fees in India. Also Read: I already liked Netflix’s UI - now this new Instagram-like video feed just makes it more interesting

Taking a cue from Netflix, Disney+ has also started warning users who are sharing passwords outside of a household. The company is currently piloting it in Canada, and if it goes as planned, the streaming giant may mull introducing the curbs to more markets. For now, there is no information if Disney+ Hotstar, which is the India-specific version of Disney+, will implement these curbs, too.

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— Written with inputs from IANS