Netflix confirms it’s cutting off Apple billing for grandfathered subscribers::Netflix legacy subscribers who’ve been paying through Apple’s payments system will now have to switch to paying Netflix directly.

  • @dugmeup
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    7011 months ago

    Yeah. This one is a no brainer. Apple charges a ridiculous fee for transactions. No merchant should accept it.

    • @[email protected]
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      1811 months ago

      I find Apple’s subscription management to be a huge boon. It’s all right there in my settings and I can cancel subscription with a single click instead of jumping through the actual service’s hoops designed to make me give up

      • @moistclump
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        811 months ago

        Yeh I wonder if this is more the reason. It’s too easy for people to unsubscribe. I much prefer doing any subs through Apple for this reason.

    • Dojan
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      511 months ago

      Netflix charges a ridiculous amount. Honestly don’t care if Apple gets a cut of that cake.

      • @FooBarrington
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        3311 months ago

        Apple taking 30% of some subscriptions makes Netflix even more expensive for everyone.

        • Dojan
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          3011 months ago

          Netflix has no problem raising the prices for everyone regardless. Let’s not pretend that Netflix is a good company, they’ve been shittifying their service for years now.

          • @FooBarrington
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            1911 months ago

            I didn’t imply they are a good company - but that’s simply how prices work. If the revenue for some customers is smaller, either those customers will have to pay more, or (if they’re not allowed to specifically increase prices for that group, as is the case here) all customers will have to pay more.

          • @taanegl
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            511 months ago

            Is there any reason why you’re being anti-consumer and anti-user by being facetious, or was that just a bit of contrarian pretention?

            • @[email protected]
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              11 months ago

              Is there a reason you’re being a sesquipedalian? Netflix profits are up over 50% since the start of the year - and this is with Apple taking their piece of the pie.

              Do you think Netflix will lower their prices after they remove legacy pricing from the Apple Store? I own Netflix stock, so by all means, blame Apple.

            • Dojan
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              411 months ago

              No I’m actually extremely pro consumer; stop supporting abusive companies and go find alternative means of obtaining whatever it is you want to watch.

              • @taanegl
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                111 months ago

                “I’m want Apple to keep it’s walled garden to spite the publishers”.

                That’s you. Yes, it does sound that dumb.

                • @[email protected]
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                  211 months ago

                  That’s a disingenuous statement. You could always subscribe to Netflix outside of Apple.

                  Apple isn’t the only only digital store that charges fees. Don’t hear anyone bitching about Steam.

        • @Jakdracula
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          1811 months ago

          lol, wut? You actually believe that Netflix would charge _less_if Apple wasn’t in the picture? Wow.

          • @Passerby6497
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            611 months ago

            You really don’t think prices are affected by a middleman taking 30% of the price you charge??

            • @Jakdracula
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              1111 months ago

              Pricing is only effected by the willingness of the consumer. That’s all.
              If you’re willing to pay $100 a month, Netflix will charge $100 a month.

              • @Passerby6497
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                411 months ago

                Yes, only the willingness of the consumer. And also profits required by investors and shareholders. And the ability to supply the product and the required ongoing costs. And the costs of licensing.

                But yeah, only the willingness of the consumer affects prices. Yep. Losing money that the consumer is willing to pay to a middleman wouldn’t have any affect on long term pricing.

                • @Jakdracula
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                  -111 months ago

                  Nope.

                  If a consumer is unwilling to pay the price, then none of the other stuff matters. It’s very simple to understand - in order for a company to be profitable after expenses, such as product development, whatever ongoing cost, etc. - if the consumer is unwilling to pay the price for the product or service, than there is no business. It is up to the business to find a way to run their company for a profit.

          • @FooBarrington
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            111 months ago

            My guy. Prices are based on the costs and the profit. Higher costs means higher prices, because companies maximize their profit.

      • @LufyCZ
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        1111 months ago

        You don’t, but they do. It’s a no brainer for them, which the parent comment expressed quite clearly

  • @BonesOfTheMoon
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    4711 months ago

    I took a long hard look the other day and realized there’s nothing I can’t live without on Netflix. I’m thinking about cancelling. I tend to watch Crave and Disney Plus and rarely even open Netflix.

        • @[email protected]
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          911 months ago

          I setup a Jellyfin server. It took only maybe 15 minutes and I even setup a few profiles with parental controls on one.

          I already knew how to acquire the media for the server. It works pretty well on our Roku too. Way better than Plex and way more clean of a UI.

          • @[email protected]
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            311 months ago

            took you 15 minutes? damn i must have been a turtle, and I took a shortcut by using YAMS(yet another media server, basically a script that automates the installation most of the basic features users want)

            • @[email protected]
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              311 months ago

              It was quicker since the machine was already setup as a server on the network. So all I had to setup was Jellyfin. I’m also not including downloading the client software on our phones and Roku. But frankly that was easy and each device found the server immediately.

      • @BonesOfTheMoon
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        311 months ago

        Plex is cool, I do use that. What is self hosting? I don’t know about it.

        • @[email protected]
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          11 months ago

          Self hosting means the server is run by you on your home network. Its kinda bizar not to know this as a Plex user?

          Are we talking about the same Plex to watch media?

          A good way of knowing who is hosting is looking where the media files are coming from.

          • Stored on your own pc, nass or server: you are self hosting.

          • You connected to a url/ip adress a friend gave you. Someone else, maybe your friend is hosting for you.

          Jellyfin is Plex but Foss (free open source), which instantly makes it superior in my book. Highly recommend those who have yet to pick.

          Any app that runs within your browser is technically selfhosting. Its not just run on pc but accessible by all devices connected to your home network.

          You may assume that self hosting exposes to the internet ,which is the intended use case, but unless you portforward the ports it all remains local and safe.

            • @[email protected]
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              811 months ago

              You can use the Plex app to watch media from other people’s servers that they shared with you.

              But you can also setup your own Plex server, load your media (movies and series that you can obtain in different ways). This means you’ll never have to pay anybody and your media will be yours forever.

    • @[email protected]
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      1211 months ago

      We cancelled all our streaming services this month except Disney+ which is credited back on our credit card each month.

      We had Netflix, Prime, and Crunchyroll that we cancelled. We don’t really watch anything on Prime. On Netflix we just watched reruns for background noise while doing other things around the house. And Crunchyroll removed Funimation’s digital library after acquisition so I canceled them on principle even though that was easily the most used service.

    • @agent_flounder
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      711 months ago

      I have been checking the thrift stores for DVDs and blu rays lately with a plan to drop one or more streaming services. I’m afraid to tally up how much we pay a month for all that crap.

      • @[email protected]
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        511 months ago

        Netflix alone can cost upwards of $300 a year. Add in Hulu, Prime, HBO, Disney+, etc. and you’re easily dropping over $1k a year on streaming services.

      • @BonesOfTheMoon
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        311 months ago

        Disney to me is worth it and so is crave. Prime isn’t worth wiping your butt with IMO.

  • @oDDmON
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    1511 months ago

    Nobody wants to play together anymore.

    • @Plopp
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      411 months ago

      “but muh profits!”

    • @[email protected]
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      311 months ago

      I can’t believe how unreliable it is to try to pay with your phone at brick and mortar vendors these days. I really had higher hopes for the technology to catch on, but the politics, fees, greed behind it are screwing it all up

  • AutoTL;DRB
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    411 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Netflix confirms to The Verge that it has begun booting longtime subscribers off their Apple iTunes billing plans, and will require them to pay Netflix directly using a credit card or debit card instead.

    Earlier today, The Streamable reported that Netflix had begun telling customers in “some territories,” but Netflix representative Momo Zhao confirms to us that all “members on the basic plan who were using an iTunes method of payment” will need to sign up directly.

    It’s been a good run for anyone who signed up before Netflix stopped accepting subscriptions through Apple’s payments system.

    Alas, if you’re like that person, you’ll now have to join the rest of us and either accept a more-than-$5 price hike for essentially the same plan you’ve had for years or pay $3 less than you have been and let the ads wash over you.

    The change is the end of a long saga — despite Apple adding in-app subscription options to iPhones in 2010, Netflix didn’t add them to its iOS app until 2015 because it was opposed to Apple’s 30 percent cut.

    In late 2018, Netflix decided it didn’t want to pay Apple at all, dropping in-app subscriptions entirely, and it never looked back.


    The original article contains 242 words, the summary contains 203 words. Saved 16%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • CrimeDad
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    311 months ago

    My MIL is going to be annoyed about this lol.