What’s the Difference?
Netflix’s new plan will stream in a lower video quality (720p/HD ) than its Standard and Premium plans and users will not have the ability to download movies or television shows for offline viewing. And while “free” and paid users will still have access to most of the same content, there are some limitations. Netflix previously said its ad-supported tier would include around 85% to 90% of the regular viewing on its platform, but a report released just this week from The Wall Street Journal claimed it still hadn’t finalized new agreements with major studios for the rights to run ads against their content. Those studios, as of Wednesday, reportedly included Disney, Comcast, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros.
“We did deals in a timeframe before when we weren’t contemplating doing an ad-based tier,” Netflix Chief Operating Officer Greg Peters told Axios last month when asked about the murky agreements. “We feel like we’ve got a very strong offering in terms of the amount of titles.”
