Ahh gotta love lack of competition.

Well right now it has a 3 at a time (unlimited) rental service for 16.99 so you think it'll go up to 19.99? That doesn't seem so bad...

There are (according to engadget's count) 461 BluRay titles available. That includes so-called titles that I don't think anybody would rent (ie: hd video of a fireplace! woo!).

How, and when exactly, does netflix plan to hit 1500 titles? It doesn't seem like there'll be 1500 titles available for at least another year and a half or so...

Increase the price? Well I hope this doesn't affect the standard DVD rental price.

I'll pay....more titles is a welcome relief....I'm still waiting for the new Harry Potter movie to be available

:/ Why not have a separate subscription to include Blu-Ray? Or an added fee to opt-in to it?

Finally, I"m tired of seeing "Very Long Wait" just get a new blu-ray release

I just read that Netflix has about 700+ copies of every movie in their catalog - probably less for the niche stuff. For Blu-Ray I imagine that they'd need a lot fewer copies just because there are a lot fewer people with players. Maybe 200 to start? So they're probably laying out 3-5 million bucks to get their catalog up to speed. Granted, it's hard money, but in the grand scheme it doesn't seem like a lot for a company valued at 2 billion clams. I doubt they'll raise the prices (even if they could) just because they're much better off getting early adopters as happy members in the long run than trying to charge a premium just as the format is trying to take off.

i seem to recall netflix being the ONLY large (somewhat monopoly) company that has lowered prices in the past due to profits/subscribers. i think that if they do raise prices, it will be with the customer in mind. i would prefer an option on a price increase, rather than a set increase.. but as with most things in the country.. the few pay for most..

I thought Blu-Ray discs were supposed to be cheaper than standard DVD's...

I hope this won't affect regular DVD only subscribers.

I'm willing to pay 3 bucks more a month if it means this will eliminate the severely long waits for almost every Blu-Ray title. That's what they really need to address... Netflix seems to carry every Blu-Ray movie I've ever wanted to watch so that isn't really the problem. They just need to carry more of each title!

@chrisaroz: I'm sorry, but are we living in the same universe? If not, could you smack my parallel self and tell him to quit being a jackass? Thanks.

@chrisaroz:

I'd double check on everything you've heard about anything. Someone is lying to you.

If they increase the price for everybody I'll switch to Blockbuster
I don't have a blue-ray player and won't be getting one for a while, no way I'm paying for other people to enjoy stuff I can't afford :)

You mean increase the monthly late fee? Come summer, I'm idle...

This is one of the pieces that could make BluRay fail. Same price with better quality? JoeSchmoe is IN. Otherwise, nope.

@poorGeek:

Don't forget last year when Blockbuster increased their monthly price, Netflix lowered theirs. I don't know where they stand now but at the time I paid a few bucks less per month with Netflix than my brother did with Blockbuster.

@EQC:

I'm pretty sure they're referring to the number of copies of each BR movie, not the number of unique BR titles.

Lately Netflix has been really good about sending me HDMs quickly.. For a few weeks there I had my account on hold because all my HDMs had long or very long waits. I'm willing to pay a couple of extra bucks for the cause.. but literally like $3 bucks.

shhhh.. don't give them bad ideas.

who didn't see this coming?
a price hike would be most unfortunate.
damn blu-ray and their ridiculous media cost.
now we just have to wait for retail prices on blu-ray to inch upward too. $60-80 special blu-ray sets for christmas anyone? you'll be able to get the regular dvd for $19.99 at target but they'll want $60+ from you for HD.

these media moguls have no foresight. no ability to understand opportunity and how to capitalize on it. it's just like the record companies, after making big bank on CD's we moved into the digital download age, and rather than figure out how to make bank with that new format, they tried to restrict it, control it, make it expensive, make it limited and basically spent their entire fortune trying to kill it.

now i forget where my little rant was going but i'm sure it's doomsday all over again!! mark my words!!

i watched Rendition over the weekend on an XBOX 360 HD download and Sleepy Hollow on HD DVD. visually and audibly, both were grand. i don't know how blu-ray is going to make my life better at twice the price!

I'm a loyal long term supporter of Netflix, I dont mind paying more for the bluray only option (provided I dont have a list of titles stating "long wait").

To you whiners in the dvd camp, I doubt you will get hit with an increase...

I would never sign on with Blockbuster, talk about a lame company thats run out of ideas, they only jumped on the online rental bandwagon when they saw how successful it could be.

I just spoke with CS at Netflix and they anticipate no additional charges or premiums for Bluray DVD; their focus groups apparently confirmed this. It will take about a year to increase to that number (after all, are there that many Blueray releases now?). Who started this "additional charge" rumor?

@Klay: thanks for actually doing the actual legwork and finding out the truth, instead of just commenting and guessing like a lot of us (me included) tend to do.

I'll stick with DVD, thanks.

@CruJones: Yeah, I find it unlikely that they will be raising prices after just lowering them. "Whoops, sorry, we're going back to the price we used to be charging you."

@rawlus:

Actually since wal-mart chose blu-ray prices have started to go down. A lot of new releases are coming out at $25 and older titles at $18.88. The more people buying it, the lower costs will get. DVDs were the exact same price when they first came out.

hopefully i can opt out of blu-ray and not pay the BD tax.

@Klay:

Well the Netflix CEO stated something along those lines recently.. Maybe that's where it got started.

I could swear I remember hearing a similar complaint 10 years ago...

"What? DVD is too expensive! I can go buy a VHS tape for twenty bucks or less! Why would I want to buy a DVD that costs so much more?"

Five years later DVDs dropped in price to twenty bucks or less. VHS died. The end.

Incidentally, when I joined Netflix in 2001, I thought the $19.99 for unlimited 3-out-at-a-time was a HUGE bargain. The fact that it's now dropped to $16.99 is amazing. If it went back to the original price because of Blu-ray, I'd still consider it a HUGE bargain.

I will still choose to get them via Netflix rather than buy most of them...some things just aren't worth High Def...like Wild Hogs...really? why? I mean there is only so much Martin Lawrence one can take...and that amount drops drastically in high definition.