Netflix is slowly removing the last holdouts of its grandfathered Basic plan, which offered ad-free viewing for £3 less than the current Standard subscription for new customers
New deadline for those still paying £7.99 for Netflix
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If you're still watching Netflix on its cheapest ad-free subscription — prepare to lose access soon.
Netflix is withdrawing its £7.99 Basic subscription, leaving users with a tough choice to either increase their monthly fee to £10.99 per month and watch without adverts, or drop down to £4.99 and put up with ad breaks.
Anyone who still has access to the Basic tier will need to pick a new subscription by July 14. If you miss the deadline, Netflix will automatically shift your account over to the £4.99 Standard with Ads plan.
@NetflixUK removing the basic plan from current subscribers and forcing customers to pay for adverts or go to the £10.99 per month plan ... Well that's one way to lose subscribers I guess #Netflix
— The Berisha Show 🇽🇰 (@BerishaShow) May 5, 2024
The Basic subscription offered ad-free viewing of everything in the Netflix catalogue in 720p HD picture quality. Netflix pulled the subscription for new customers in July 2023, but those already with a Basic plan were allowed to keep it until they either upgraded or cancelled. But that's now changed.
Disgruntled subscribers — who have been continuously subscribed since at least July 2023, when Netflix blocked new and rejoining customers from taking up the Basic tier — have flocked to social news site Reddit and X, formerly known as Twitter, to complain about the shake-up.
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One user on Reddit shared their experience of losing access to the Basic subscription tier:
Got an email last night with the title “Your membership has been cancelled”
They’ve been trying to get me to pay like 60% more for the same basic plan I’ve had for 13 years. I’m letting them cancel on me. Body of the email says
“We're following up on our recent emails to confirm that your Basic plan was discontinued and your membership has been canceled. You can keep watching Netflix until Sunday, June 30.”
Posting on X, one enraged Netflix subscriber shared: "Netflix getting rid of their basic plan and only giving you the option of cheaper but with adverts or £10.99 a month without is honestly daylight robbery"
"Remember when streaming was worth it?????" another X user posted. "yeah now for Netflix you either get ads or pay a f**k ton for the 4K tier, basic tier is going away. only a matter of time until the other services copy them."
The latest shake-up to Netflix subscriptions will only impact those living in the UK and Canada.
Netflix also discontinued its Basic plan in the United States for new and rejoining subscribers last summer, but hasn't confirmed when people who still subscribe to the grandfathered plan will be forced to pick from one of the existing line-up of price plans.
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Netflix introduced its ad-supported plan to lower the cost of its subscription. With increased competition from the likes of Prime Video, Apple TV+, Paramount+, Disney+, Shudder, MGM+, as well as free ad-supported services like Amazon's Freevee, The Roku Channel, Tubi, and Fawesome, Netflix's new Standard with Ads plan costs less than the £5.99 entry-level subscription when it first launched in the UK in 2012.
Coupled with the arrival of its lower price plan, Netflix started a crackdown on password-sharing. The move to stop those with an account from sharing their login details so friends and family could log in with their own devices was so successful that Disney+ intends to copy it wholesale.
Over time, Netflix has slowly withdrawn the Basic plan from its last remaining holdouts, including Sky Stream and Sky Glass viewers and those who subscribe on iPhone. With the deadline approaching this month, nobody will be able to subscribe to the most affordable ad-free plan.
That said, the decision does simplify the pricing structure for the popular streamer.
Adverts? Yes, before and during shows and films
Full Netflix Library? No, some titles missing
Picture Quality? 1080p HD
Games? Yes, all mobile games included
Watch On Multiple Devices? Yes, up to two
Downloads? Yes, on up to two devices
Adverts? No, never
Full Netflix Library? Yes
Picture Quality? 1080p HD
Games? Yes, all mobile games included
Watch On Multiple Devices? Yes, up to two
Downloads? Yes, on up to two devices
Additional Members? Yes, up to one
Adverts? No, never
Full Netflix Library? Yes
Picture Quality? 4K Ultra HD with Spatial Audio
Games? Yes, all mobile games included
Watch On Multiple Devices? Yes, up to four
Downloads? Yes, on up to six devices
Additional Members? Yes, up to two
Both Standard and Standard with Ads offer improved picture quality over the Basic plan.
Netflix’s now-defunct subscription was limited to 720p picture quality, Netflix Standard with Ads offers full High Definition (HD) streaming at 1080p. You can also watch and download shows and films on up to two devices at a time. That’s a doubling of the limit imposed by Netflix Basic.
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Of course, if you really want to treat yourself, the £17.99 per month Netflix Premium plan offers 4K Ultra HD, Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision, downloads on more devices, and other perks.
According to Netlifx, its ad-supported tier now boasts 40 million users — a vast number of people for advertisers to target during hit shows like Stranger Things, Bridgerton, Selling Sunset, Sex Education, and Emily In Paris.
