Netflix Raises its UK Subscription Prices

MW
Mike Wheatley

Netflix is hiking its prices for UK customers who’ve signed up for its two premium subscription plans. The company said the price of its Standard plan, which allows users to watch two screens at a time and enjoy HD resolution, is being raised by a pound to £8.99 a month. Meanwhile its Premium plan, which allows up to four screens per time and also includes 4K content, is getting a £2 increase and now costs £11.99 a month.

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The Basic plan, which limits users to standard definition resolution and one screen only, remains the same price at just £5.99 per month, Netflix said.

Netflix said the new prices are effective immediately for new subscribers, while existing customers can expect to pay the higher fees in “the coming weeks.”

Some customers might bemoan the extra cost, but Netflix said it was necessary to reflect the investments its made into its original content, which includes both movies and TV shows.

“We change our prices from time to time to reflect the significant investments we’ve made in new TV shows and films, as well as improvements to our product,” a company spokesperson said. “We have more than 50 productions planned in the UK this year, including new seasons of Black Mirror, Sex Education and After Life.”

The price hike is the first in the UK since 2017, and comes just weeks after Netflix announced a similar increase for US customers.

Netflix’s move comes at a time when its bracing itself for more competition from new rivals including Apple, Disney and WarnerMedia, which have all announced plans to launch video streaming services later this year. Due to this, Disney and WarnerMedia are both planning to pull their content from Netflix, and so the latter firm is planning to make more of its own to compensate for the loss.

The decision to raise prices means that some might decide that Amazon’s Prime Video service now offers better value for money. Amazon Prime offers a handful of titles in 4K for its all-encompassing £5.99 monthly fee, which is now half the price of Netflix’s most expensive service.