A few weeks ago, we reported that Netflix no longer offered its long-running Basic plan to its new and returning subscribers in Canada. We wondered when the popular premium streaming service would also dump that plan in the US. Well, we didn"t have to wait for very long.
Today, TechRadar reports that the Basic no-ads plan is no longer available in the US and the UK. Neowin also independently confirmed that the plan is no longer an option for new customers in the US.
As with the plan"s removal in Canada, Netflix did not make an announcement about this decision. Anyone who is still on the Basic no-ads plan, which costs $9.99 / £10.99 a month, can keep it until they either switch to one of the other plans or leave Netflix completely.
With this change, Netflix now has just three plans to keep track of. The cheapest is the Standard plan with ads, which costs $6.99 a month in the US. The Standard plan, with no ads, is next, priced at $15.49 a month. Both of these plans offer 1080p resolution streams. The Premium plan costs $19.99 a month and supports 4K and HDR streaming of supported TV shows and movies.
This change comes on the same day that Netflix is supposed to reveal its latest quarterly financial results for the second quarter of 2023. This will be the first such report since the company launched its new password-sharing fee worldwide in late May.
An unconfirmed report claims that since the password-sharing fee launched, Netflix saw a surge of new subscribers as many who were indeed sharing a Netflix account decided to just go ahead and sign up for the service themselves. We will soon find out if Netflix got a lot of new subscribers when it reveals its quarterly financials, which also include its current official subscriber numbers.