Netflix confirms price rise hoping the 'House of Cards effect' will keep subscribers
Netflix has announced an increase in its monthly fee which will take effect immediately for new subscribers but will have no effect on existing members for two years.
The streaming service hopes the 'House of Cards effect' will stop subscribers deflecting to other services such as Amazon Instant Video (the new name for Lovefilm).
The £1 increase (from £5.99 to £6.99) comes following the success of Kevin Spacey's Netflix original series House of Cards, which cost the service €100m in investment.
Subscribers can stick to the £5.99 charge, the same as Amazon Instant Video, by opting for a lower-quality SD version. The email to Netflix users reads: "In order to continue adding more films and TV programmes, we are increasing out price from £5.99 to £6.99 for new members. As a thank you for being a member of Netflix already, we guarantee that your plan and price will not change for two years."
Netflix's global subscriber base of 48 million will be hit by the price rise with the service confirming in April US subscribers would see a possible "one or two dollars increase", with European prices rising from €7.99 to €8.99.