LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Netflix Inc will raise by 60 percent the monthly price of a plan that lets subscribers watch unlimited movies and video online and get DVDs by mail.
Customers who want both services will pay $7.99 per month to rent one DVD at a time plus $7.99 for unlimited streaming, or a total of $15.98 per month. The previous cost of this plan was $9.99 a month.
"We are separating unlimited DVDs by mail and unlimited streaming into separate plans to better reflect the costs of each and to give our members a choice: a streaming only plan, a DVD only plan or the option to subscribe to both," Netflix Vice President of
Marketing Jessie Becker wrote in a company blog post.
"Given the long life we think DVDs by mail will have, treating DVDs as a $2 add on to our unlimited streaming plan neither makes great financial sense nor satisfies people who just want DVDs," Becker wrote.
Netflix announced the new prices on Tuesday. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
Unlimited DVD-only plans will cost $7.99 for one at a time or $9.99 for two at a time.
The changes take effect immediately for new subscribers, and in September for current customers.
The Los Gatos, California-based company started in the United States as a mail-in DVD service. It now offers streaming video on various devices.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine. Editing by Robert MacMillan)
