Netflix 10% price hikes come to France
Video streaming service Netflix is to raise its prices by 10% in France, even for existing subscribers.
The price hike - which has already been introduced in the USA - will be immediate for all new sign ups, and gradually introduced for existing users from October 19 onwards, reports news source 20 Minutes.
The most-popular package, which allows users to watch different programmes on two screens at once (so households can watch one show in the living room, and another in the bedroom, for example) is going up from €8,99 to €9,99 per month.
The package allowing viewing on four screens will rise to €11,99 per month.
In comparison, French service Canal Plus starts from €19 per month, rising to more depending on your subscription.
As Netflix explains each time the price increases - the last time was in 2015 - this latest rise is ostensibly to allow the California-based to improve its selection of titles, and add more Netflix Originals (shows produced by its own studio).
France is not the only European country affected: the UK and Germany have also seen price hikes, while in Switzerland, the cost has soared to CHF 14.90 (€13) for the two-screen package.
Estimates show that there are almost 1 million subscribers to the service in France, compared to 1,9 million in Germany, 23 million across the whole of Europe, and 42 million in the USA.
Subscriptions to Netflix are technically global, in the sense that your login details will work wherever you are logging in from in the world - should you travel - with the programme choice changing depending on the availability, licenses, and selection available in that country.
Although there is a lot of crossover between shows across the US, UK and French versions, the European Netflix services often receive criticism for offering an allegedly-far smaller, and less-quickly updated, selection than their US counterpart.
The company is said to be planning more original content for France, however, after the success of its first French-language TV series, Marseille, which was produced by Paris and L.A.-based Federation Entertainment, and starred French screen favourite Gerard Depardieu.
