Netflix has begun enforcing one movie stream at a time policy [Updated: Maybe not]
It seems like September 1 not only saw Netflix's new, controversial price plans go into effect, but it also saw them begin to enforce their "one movie stream at a time" policy, which means you can no longer have one video going on your iPhone and another on your iPad or Apple TV. Stop the Cap! breaks down your choices moving forward.
- Pay considerably more for a combo disc-rental/streaming plan which unlocks a corresponding number of concurrent streams. If you want two concurrent video streams, you will need to pay $19.98 a month, which also allows you two mailed DVD’s out at a time. Three streams (and DVD’s) runs $23.98, four: $29.98;
- Sign up for a second Unlimited Streaming account at an additional $7.99 a month;
- Forget about Netflix.
People don't mind paying a fair price for a fair service, but they general don't like feeling nickel and dimed. If the streams are all going to the same IP address, it seems excessive (or it seems like it's lacking a simple option to have a multi-stream account.) Anything that results in user frustration isn't good, not for us and not for Netflix.
Which way are you leaning?
UPDATE: Engadget says it might just be a glitch.
According to spokesman Steve Swasey, the policy is still the same and no Netflix member is limited to less than two streams at once. The messages people are seeing indicating otherwise? An "error" the company is correcting.
[Stop the Cap! via Mashable, Engadget. Thanks excaliburca!]
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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Leaving Netflix...this is getting absurd...a great company with a visionary market that is now going to Nickel and Dime itself into obscurity.
Fuck netflix man they destroyed it .. I cacelled my account after 4 years
wow talk about killing customer support. who ever thought this was a good idea should be fired! now with starz leaving and a huge price jump (not to mention i have probly seen evrything on netflix) and one streaming at a time (total bullshit) im probly gonna get up and leave too. as soon as im done watching the series im currently catching up on....
sigh
You may want to update this article: Netflix is not limiting streaming to one device per account. According to a Netflix spokesperson it's a glitch that's being fixed.
Take a deep breath, and move the cursor away from the cancel button...
http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/07/did-netflix-just-start-limiting-users-to-one-movie-stream-at-a-t/
They're not limiting stream to one device per account, but ARE enforcing streaming to one device at a time.
I beg to differ: I am at this moment streaming movies to two different devices at the same time using one account
No, they're not. Learn to read before commenting.
Can you guys get EpixHD? Check that out, they have awesome quality streams, it's movie channel movies plus classics, so you DON'T get PPV movies, and you need to have the Epix channel on your cable or sat provider, BUT if you can get it, the quality is amazing, and the streaming device client is free. It's available for PlayBook and Android for sure. I can't imagine it NOT having an ipad and iphone version. It's like HBOGo, BUT it actually works.
One stream at a time has always been in their terms, they just haven't enforced it up until now. However, I still disagree with it. We should be able to stream on the 6 devices they allow us to authorize at whatever time we choose.
This rumor is 100% false. Call Netflix and verify for yourself.
Wow what greedy bastards. I've been a customer for 5 years. Even though we use both streaming and DVD, we opted for streaming. Now with this limited streaming I'm done out, so not worth it.
Ohhh noooooooo! That sucks!
Wow...jumped the gun on that one, eh guys? Guess I'll have to start using my grains of salt.
No more 6 streams at once? Wow that's awful.
Realistically, you only watch one show at a time. Who watches 6 shows at a time on different devices? Ideal of course for families each wanting to watch something different.
I guess you don't have a family using the same netflix account.
Incorrect. it works.
Although, I can understand if they did cap at one stream. If any of you guys griping about not getting two streams would allow me to use your house while you're at work, that'd be great. I mean why not?! You're already paying for it, so why should I have to..
Same with you car, pets and toothbrush. ;p
My son watches movies in the game room while the wife and I watch them in the living room. We're not trying to bootleg or get over on Netflix.
Spotify blocks two systems from streaming at once too. I'm not opposed to it. I get it but it isn't ideal for consumers.
spot on… I work from home but my girl normally watches netflix on her device a couple times a week, while at Drs. or lunch. I normally throw stuff on Netflix for background noise and something to occasionally look at. This one stream thing would be a nightmare with multiple connected device. Two streams at one time I can live with.
Exactly. I'm all for making sure people can't "bootleg" your platform but don't strangle the good one's.
What an irrelevant comment. I pay for my house, so my family can use more than one room at a time... You don't, so your family can't.
I'd be more than happy to let you use my pets, though. Just give me an address and I'll drop 'em off for a few days.
I detect lazy programming here. Looks like they wrote something like this:
NSString *errorMessage = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"There are %d movies being watched...", movieCount];
Should create a plural or non-plural message like this:
NSString *errorMessage;
if (movieCount == 1) errorMessage = [NSString stringWithString:@"There is one movie being watched..."; else errorMessage = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"There are %d movies being watched...", movieCount];
And people wonder why sane folks consider Objective-C a syntax nightmare, and why it only took off when Apple forced everybody to use it for iOS.
lol. Yeah, syntactically it is ugly compared to ECMA languages [javascript, C#, ActionScript, Java, etc].
So I had lots of trouble with the number of devices that could be authorized on one account for awhile because there are several computers, multiple iphones, and the PS3 in our house. Then on top of that we would have arguments because if more then one person tried to stream something it wouldn't let us. Recently I realized it stopped complaining about the number of devices authorized and I'm fairly certain we have more than the policy allowed before and I haven't had an error as of late telling me someone else is trying to watch something at the same time although I'm pretty sure it's quite possible we've had movies going on two computers AND the PS3 simultaneously. I don't know if I'm the one having a glitch or what but I haven't had any trouble for awhile.
I watch on my iPhone or on the PS3 upstairs while my kids watch on the wii downstairs. They've been out of school for over a week for Christmas and we've had no problems. Today I get on and it won't let us stream two movies at once. Seriously?! I'm not sharing my account with anyone other than the people who live under my roof. This is bullsh*t.