Netflix Hikes Subscription Price By $1: Existing Members Will Receive One-Year Price Lock

Netflix subscribers will soon have to shell out more money to binge-watch “Orange Is the New Black” and “House of Cards.” On Thursday, the streaming giant raised the price of its standard subscription option to $9.99, a $1 increase for new customers in the U.S., Canada and parts of Latin America.

Customers that already have a price guarantee in place from Netflix’s price hike from $7.99 to $8.99 in 2014 will not receive an additional extension. But other customers will have their price locked in for a limited time.

“To continue adding more TV shows and movies including many Netflix original titles, we are modestly raising the price for some new members in the U.S., Canada and Latin America,” a Netflix representative said via email. “As a thank you to existing Netflix members -- who aren’t already benefiting from a previous price guarantee -- we will maintain their current price for a year.”

The price increase comes two months after Netflix quietly raised in prices for new customers in Europe from 9 Euros ($10) a month to 10 ($11). In part, this is due to its efforts to expand its original programming around the globe. The original series “Narcos,” a Spanish and English spoken docudrama based on the life of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, is one example of how Netflix has attempted to appeal to audiences in multiple countries.

While Netflix has pushed for a growing stable of original content, larger media companies have started turning away from it in favor of competing streaming services and traditional television distributors, according to Bloomberg.

An example of this was when Netflix failed to renew its deal with Epix, which cost it a number of popular movie titles, such as “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “World War Z.” Epix subsequently signed a deal with Hulu to carry its stable of content.

Netflix boasted a base of over 65 million subscribers at the end of its June quarter. During its July earnings call, the company said it expected to add 3.55 million new subscribers globally for its third quarter, bringing its global subscriber base to 69 million. Netflix is expected to report its third quarter earnings results on Oct. 14, followed by a conference call at 5 p.m. EDT.