The Netflix crackdown on password sharing in the US has arrived
Netflix has been working towards cracking down on password sharing in the United States for a while, and has now introduced a new fee to share your account with somebody that lives outside your household.
Netflix logo
Individual accounts matter to Netflix, just like they do for every other company. Which is why they are cracking down on these accounts sharing passwords with users outside of the household.
Beginning today, Netflix is sending out emails to users who are sharing their account passwords with people outside of their home. The company notes in the email that anyone in that "household" can use Netflix whenever they want, even while on vacation.
Netflix specifically calls out being able to sign into Netflix while using a hotel TV, for instance. The company doesn't see this as sharing a password, as this is defined by households.
There are ways to share Netflix outside of the household, though. The company outlines two very different avenues:
Read on AppleInsider
Netflix logo
Individual accounts matter to Netflix, just like they do for every other company. Which is why they are cracking down on these accounts sharing passwords with users outside of the household.
Beginning today, Netflix is sending out emails to users who are sharing their account passwords with people outside of their home. The company notes in the email that anyone in that "household" can use Netflix whenever they want, even while on vacation.
Netflix specifically calls out being able to sign into Netflix while using a hotel TV, for instance. The company doesn't see this as sharing a password, as this is defined by households.
There are ways to share Netflix outside of the household, though. The company outlines two very different avenues:
- Buy an extra member: You can share your Netflix account with someone who doesn't live with you for $7.99 per month more.
- Transfer a profile: Anyone on your account can transfer a profile to a new membership that they pay for.
Netflix's rules regarding extra members
- Add an extra member: Account owners on a Standard or Premium plan in many countries can share Netflix with someone who doesn't live with them by adding an extra member to their account.
- The account owner will need to purchase an extra member slot, then invite an extra member to use the extra member slot.
- The extra member must be activated in the same country where the account owner created their account.
- Extra members cannot be added to Netflix-included packages or third-party billed accounts.
- Extra members cannot be added to ad-supported plans.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Second, if you want a 4K HDR picture - the standard resolution for most TVs currently on the market - Netflix requires you to buy a $20/month premium subscription that allows watching on 4 separate devices, simultaneously. If you just want to be able to watch 4K on your one TV in the den, there are no cheaper options.
Netflix wouldn't have to police who's watching if they simply priced their plans on a straight-up per-stream basis, with all subscriptions able to deliver the current 4K HDR standard. If I want to pay for three people, why do they need to care where those three people are? Instead, they're going to take a huge PR hit (and probably subscriber hit) as they roll this ill-considered nickel-and-dime plan out. What morons.
How much contents are recorded in 4K? Well. it's not much. Not even when Netflix is the streaming service with the most 4K contents.
https://pointerclicker.com/how-common-is-4k-content/
When 4K contents become more the norm, then one can claim 4k as the standard. But right now, HD is still the standard. One can't claim 4K as the standard when over 95% of the streaming contents are not and never will be, in 4K. Imagine how much more we would be paying for our internet service, if streaming 4K contents was the standard.
https://pointerclicker.com/do-4k-tvs-use-more-data/
Could it be that maybe it's the other way around. In that many, if not most, of the premium 4K subscribers are paying extra for the extra two simultaneous streams and not for the 4K contents? I have 5 TV's (one of then a projection) in my home but only need 2 simultaneous streams because there's only 2 of us. But my brother (when his 2 kids were still living at home) subscribed to Netflix, he paid for the extra 2 streams because both his kids had TV's and computers and iPads and mobile phones, plus there were 3 other TV's in his home. For my brother (at the time), there was a real need for more than 2 simultaneous streams, regardless of the lack of 4K contents that he didn't care for in the first place. So in a way, the extra $5 he would be paying comes to $2.50 per extra stream. (But he couldn't just pay for 1 extra stream.) Then there are others that are paying for the 2 extra streams to share their account with others that not in the household. I imagine that more subscribers will sooner switch back to HD when they run out of 4K contents to watch, than subscribers that switch back to HD because they no longer need more than 2 streams. The average household have more the 2.5 TV's (not including tablets, computers and mobile phones that can also stream contents.) And those that are sharing those extra streams are not incline to switch back as long as they can get away with sharing those extra streams.
None of which addresses the point — if Netflix (and now the boneheads at WB) are going to charge me the top-tier for 4K, which offers 4 simultaneous streams, it makes no difference if my mother lives in the house or in her own house, it’s a stream. Apple gets this, and family groupings are by billing credit card, not address.
You have to pay extra for HD or pay even more 4K.
Just allow one price for all possible resolutions of the content.
I’m kind of curious to see how “enterprising individuals” are going to find a way to work around the enforcement system. Pretty much every system designed by man has a vulnerability and someone is going to find it, or quite possibly has already found it, just like squirrels always seem to find a way to empty your bird feeders. People should, at least I hope, be a little smarter than squirrels and will probably find a way to get at the goodies without paying for them.
I cancelled my Netflix account a while back, simply because I rarely watched anything there.
Now I use Prime Video, Criterion Channel, MHZChoice, TCM (film noir!)
I left our the second part of your post because I agree it's possible....and I'm not all that interested
As for this part, I disagree. Almost every TV (save the "extreme budget") sold today is 4K-capable. What AppleZulu claimed was it was the standard for most TVs on the market. That is objectively true.
Now, as for content, I think your comments are misleading. The link you shared is an opinion piece, one that relies on a fairly narrow definition of what 4K even means. It's not unreasonable, to be sure. But for the purposes of what consumers expect with "4K" content, the definition seems to miss the forest for the trees. While natively shot and edited 4K content is often going to look better than content that is shot in 4K, edited in 1080p, and upscaled...it doesn't mean the latter fails to qualify as 4K content.
In reality, Netflix offers a lot of 4K content. Here is just the listing of TV Series from A-F (source: https://www.trustedreviews.com/explainer/find-netflix-amazon-hdr-content-2942413).
This doesn't include the rest of their series (G-Z), nor movies and other content. Now, many of these are likely shot in 4K or 1080p, edited in 1080p, and upscaled to be advertised as "4K." But, they still qualify as 4K content. They surely will look better than 1080p content on a 4K TV, particularly a 4K HDR TV.
In short, one can certainly make the argument that 4K isn't the "standard" per se. But in consumers' minds, it most definitely is. I wouldn't have consider a 1080p TV even 3 years ago. Now, the only reason I have one is to use as a monitor for a drone feed display. The point here is Netflix is acting like access to 4K is some kind of uncommon luxury or premium. In reality, consumers expect 4K---even if it's not "real" 4K.