The Netflix crackdown on password sharing in the US has arrived

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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.

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 Help Center offers details regarding extra members.

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.

As it stands, Netflix's crackdown on password sharing is expected to go live in the United States beginning in the second quarter of this year. However, Netflix's email doesn't specify when, exactly, the crackdown will begin.

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11 Comments

AppleZulu

said about 11 months ago

First, Netflix encouraged users to share accounts.

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.

davidw

said about 11 months ago

AppleZulu said:

First, Netflix encouraged users to share accounts.

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.

The standard resolution of most TV's means nothing when it comes to a "standard". It's the standard resolution of most of the contents thats matters. Watching a VSH, DVD or BR version of a movie on a 4K TV does not mean you are watching a 4K movie. You are not watching reruns of "Seinfeld" or "The Big Bang Theory" or movies like "Star Wars" or "The Matrix", from a steaming service in 4K, just because you have a 4K TV.

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.

twolf2919

said about 11 months ago

I wonder how Netflix will handle household members who are away from the physical home because they're in college? We're in the US, but our daughter is in school in Vancouver, Canada at the moment. Her permanent home address and voting is still with us - but she's not on "vacation" outside the home or living in a hotel obviously.

StrangeDays

said about 11 months ago

davidw said:

AppleZulu said:

First, Netflix encouraged users to share accounts.

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.

The standard resolution of most TV's means nothing when it comes to a "standard". It's the standard resolution of most of the contents thats matters. Watching a VSH, DVD or BR version of a movie on a 4K TV does not mean you are watching a 4K movie. You are not watching reruns of "Seinfeld" or "The Big Bang Theory" or movies like "Star Wars" or "The Matrix", from a steaming service in 4K, just because you have a 4K TV.

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.

That’s nonsense. You’re claiming because the majority of legacy content isn’t 4K, that 4K isn’t our new normal resolution. Hogwash. New TVs are 4K, and everything else is a downgrade. Obviously all of recorded history prior to a few years ago isn’t going to be in the new normal.

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.

MustSeeUHDTV

said about 11 months ago

davidw said:

When 4K contents become more the norm, then one can claim 4k as the standard. But right now, HD is still the standard.

Um….okay….but Netflix’s standard isn’t even HD. It’s DVD quality 480p.

You have to pay extra for HD or pay even more 4K.

Just allow one price for all possible resolutions of the content.