New Netflix Pricing: Fewer Movies, Slower Streaming - Pay Dirt - SmartMoney

Netflix’s new, higher prices kicked in for current subscribers yesterday — the same day that content partner Starz announced it would end its streaming partnership with the movie rental site and weeks after AT&T said it would slow data speeds for heavy users who do a lot of downloading and streaming.

Translation: for an extra fee of up to $72 per year under the new pricing system, subscribers may get less content, and contend with slower speeds should they decide to watch those movies on their smartphone.

Starz announced Thursday that it had ended contract renewal negotiations with Netflix, and would stop streaming its content — which includes Disney and Sony movies — when the current contract ends at the end of February. Sure, there’s still plenty of time for negotiations to pick back up, but All Things D says that doesn’t seem likely. Netflix’s response seems pretty final, and notes that the site is “grateful for the early notice of their decision, which will give us time to license other content.” By Netflix’s estimates, just 8% of what subscribers stream comes from Starz.

Earlier this month, AT&T said that it will reduce the data speed of its heaviest users. It’s not specifically Netflix-targeted, but analysts say those users are typically those that stream movies and music on their phone. (T-Mobile and Verizon have similar throttling policies in place.) AT&T’s new policy goes into effect on October 1. AT&T estimates it will affect 5% of users.