Netflix now charges extra for 4K streaming

Similar to the upcharge to get Blu-rays in the mail over DVDs, Netflix is implementing a higher price for 4K streaming too. New subscribers and folks who already weren’t using their UHD screen to watch House of Cards in 4K will have to jump into the $11.99 per-month family plan, according to HD Guru. Following its tradition of rewarding loyal customers though, if you were using 4K streaming prior to early October, you’re grandfathered in at $7.99 a month.

Netflix offers only a handful of titles in eye-popping Ultra HD — including the first season of NBC’s “The Blacklist” — but to watch them, subscribers will have to pay for its most expensive service tier. New Netflix members who want access to Ultra HD must sign up for the “family” plan at $11.99 monthly, which allows simultaneous streaming of up to four programs. Previously, Netflix offered 4K content to subs of its standard plan, now $8.99 per month for new customers, which allows for two HD streams. “We decided to move 4K UHD video into our four-stream plan for new members who sign up and care about the highest-quality video Netflix offers,” a Netflix spokesman said. “We have a modest and growing catalog of titles in 4K, including ‘House of Cards,’ ‘Breaking Bad,’ ‘The Blacklist’ and a slate of upcoming Netflix original series.” According to Netflix, the reason for the change was that producing and acquiring 4K content costs more that conventional HD, so it has repositioned Ultra HD as a premium offering.