Netflix wants to make money, a lot of money – and is constantly tightening the thumbscrews on paying customers. Although the streaming pioneer is still the market leader in its field, the criticism of Netflix is getting louder and louder, while the company is constantly increasing prices and has recently made many negative headlines, especially by preventing account sharing. Among other things, this is due to the fact that Netflix is increasingly stumbling after years of strong growth and has conquered strong competition in recent years with Disney Plus and Co. In a new step, Netflix is now worsening the offer for customers and eliminating a great feature – except for premium customers, who currently have to shell out around 18 euros a month for the Netflix subscription.
Netflix is dropping more and more features
For years, streaming in high 4K resolution with a particularly impressive HDR image has been reserved for the expensive premium tariff. Providers such as Disney Plus offer these features in all subscription levels, all of which are significantly cheaper than the premium rate at Netflix.
So far, an advantage of the premium subscription for just under 20 euros was the option of sharing the account between four people, which significantly reduces the price per user. But that will soon be over: Netflix wants to prevent account sharing. If you want to continue sharing the streaming subscription, you will soon have to pay a surcharge.
The streaming provider is thus depriving its expensive premium customers of an important feature at this price level. And now a feature will also be removed from subscribers of all other tariff levels.
No more great Netflix sound for “normal” customers…
This is about 3D spatial sound, often referred to as spatial audio. This enables a kind of surround sound without surround speakers when streaming Netflix, only a stereo setup is required. Therefore, the feature is not only available on the television, but also, for example, on the smartphone or tablet. The technology has recently gained popularity from Apple, among others, and works particularly well with high-quality headphones.
Netflix feature only for premium customers
So far, all Netflix customers have had access to this feature, including subscribers to the affordable Basic with advertising (€4.99 per month), Basic (€7.99 per month) and Standard (€12.99 per month) tiers. From now on, the useful audio feature is only available to customers with the premium rate for €17.99 per month.
Also popular with PC games readers
No chance for TV! Netflix, Disney Plus & Co. are so successful
Estimate question: How many years is the sum of all minutes streamed in the US in the last year? We’ll tell you. 
Netflix: Blatant measures against account sharing – it gets that bad!
Netflix has shared new details on its anti-account sharing measures on the streaming platform’s Help Center. We have the details!
Witcher, Stranger Things and many more affected
According to Netflix, around 700 films and series currently support 3D spatial sound, which corresponds to around 10 percent of the entire catalog offered in Germany. These include The Witcher and Stranger Things, among others. If you want to experience these and other titles in particularly impressive audio quality, you are now forced to take out the Netflix premium subscription, which is priced at a steep price of just under 20 euros a month. You can still divide the costs by four, but that too will soon be history – at least in the current form.
Sources: Golem / Caschy’s Blog
