Netflix today said that it may implement an extra payment for those who share their Netflix accounts with people outside of their households, a practice that is common with the streaming service.
According to Netflix, sharing accounts between households impacts its ability to “invest in great new TV and films” for its members, and so it has been exploring ways to permit users to share outside of their households by “paying a bit more.”
A test launching over the next few weeks in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru will implement these extra payments for those who provide Netflix access to those who they do not live with. Netflix customers in these countries can add two extra members to their accounts for monthly fees of 2,380 CLP in Chile, 2.99 USD in Costa Rica, and 7.9 PEN in Peru. For reference, Netflix costs $8.99 to $15.99 per month in Costa Rica.
Netflix plans to give customers on the Basic, Standard, and Premium plans an option to enable the people who they share an account with to move a profile over to a new, paid account or an extra member account, suggesting multi-household Netflix account sharing is coming to an end.
According to Netflix, it will be working to “understand the utility of these two features” in Peru, Chile, and Costa Rica before making changes in other countries. Netflix has always included wording in its terms and services that prevents account usage across multiple households, but until now, the service has ignored password sharing.
Netflix is the only streaming service that charges by streaming quality. In the United States, Netflix charges $9.99 for the Basic no-HD plan that allows for streaming on a single device, $15.49 for a Standard HD plan that allows for two people to watch at the same time, and $19.99 for a Premium plan with Ultra HD streaming and support for four simultaneous viewers.
