Netflix kills its cheapest plan without ads

Netflix has got rid of its ‘Basic’ plan, the cheapest option to watch without ads. Until recently, Netflix had the option to pay £6.99 or $6.99 for its cheapest normal tier, which came with some restrictions including watching only in HD and on one device at a time. The company had already axed a similar offering in Canada. And now it has removed the option to join that plan in the US and UK. Instead, users will have to choose between watching with ads – which costs $6.99 in the US, or £4.99 in the UK – or paying the much higher price of $15.49 or £10.99 for the “standard” plan. People who already subscribed to the basic plan will be allowed to stay on it, so long as they make no changes to their subscription. But the offering will no longer be available to new users. Netflix had already hidden the option behind a button on its website, and had seemed to discourage people from taking it up. In an earnings call this week, in which Netflix also announcing surging subscription growth that suggests its crackdown on password sharing is working, the company’s co-CEO Greg Peters said that it was looking to “optimise” its plan structure. He said that the company wants “to give consumers access across a wide range”, and pointed to the lower “entry prices” on offer to customers. Those customers must watch ads if they wish to opt for the lower prices, however. Read More Netflix’s password sharing crackdown is going much better than people expected Stolen ChatGPT accounts for sale on the dark web Geothermal breakthrough uses oil drilling tech to tap renewable energy