Netflix Plans to Increase Prices and Expand Cable Box Integration

Netflix has revealed plans to up its subscription price for new customers and integrate its service into cable DVRs. 

In the company's recent Q1 2014 earnings report to its shareholders, Netflix has detailed several interesting new developments. Along with impressive growth and profit stats, the streaming service also unveiled plans to increase its current monthly fee and extend its support for cable box DVRs to the US.

According to the report, Netflix ended the first quarter of 2014 with 48 million members worldwide and over $1 billion in streaming revenue. Likewise, the company's US membership grew by 2.25 million net members and its international membership increased by 1.75 million. In addition, Netflix also announced tentative plans to enact a one to two dollar price increase for its monthly membership in the US. This revised pricing would only go into effect for new customers while existing users would get to keep the old fee for "a generous time period." This higher fee will allow the company to provide even more content and optimize its streaming experience. A similar decision was already put into effect in Ireland, where the price was increased from €6.99 to €7.99. Finally, the report also indicated that Netflix will be bringing its service to select US cable boxes. Some European DVRs already include Netflix built-in, and now the company plans to expand this integration to TiVo set-top boxes in the US. Support for more cable boxes is also planned for the future.

For now, Netflix's monthly streaming fee remains $7.99, and the service is available on a vartiety of smart TVs and streaming media players, including the Roku 3, Apple TV, Chromecast, and Amazon Fire TV. 

Source: Netflix via Engadget

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