Getting Blu-ray is getting a bit more expensive for Netflix subscribers. The movie service has announced it's adding a monthly surcharge to all Blu-ray renters' bills. Don't panic, though: The fee is only $1, and that extra buck gets you all the high-def rentals you want.
"Blu-ray movies are more expensive than standard definition movies," Netflix rationalized in an e-mail sent to customers Wednesday.
Anyone currently renting Blu-ray discs will start seeing the fee automatically in November. You can choose to opt out of the service and discontinue your Blu-ray options by either calling the company or logging in to your account preferences.
Fees Rise as Customers Decline
The move comes just two days after Netflix announced a drop in its fourth-quarter subscriber and revenue outlook. The service is now expecting to end the year with 8.95 million to 9.25 million customers, compared to the original estimate of 9.1 to 9.7 million. That means it'll pull in as much as $14 million less than initially projected.
Netflix blames the "economic climate" for the change. It also doesn't help, of course, that the company shelled out $6.5 million in subscriber credits following August's four-day service interruption. Regardless of the reason, though, shares dropped 12 percent following the updated outlook announcement Monday.
On the whole, Blu-ray isn't exactly catching on like wildfire. Netflix has previously indicated HD content "is a very, very small, single-digit percentage" of its product shipment. Overall industry research shows that while it has its share of die-hard fans, Blu-ray dropped down to only 8 percent of the U.S. video disc market at the end of September. Year-to-year, there is some growth -- Americans bought up 8.8 million Blu-ray discs in the first nine months of 2008, compared to 5.6 million in all of 2007 -- but Sony's previous prediction of Blu-ray taking up 50 percent of DVD sales by December is starting to look a little unlikely.
