New York, Feb. 9 (BNA): Netflix has a plan to deal with rampant account sharing: a program that lets subscribers pay extra to share their accounts with people outside their home.
The streaming giant introduced its paid sharing system in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain on Wednesday. It was previously released in multiple markets in Latin America.
While Netflix won’t say when paid sharing will come to other countries, some versions of the plan are expected to be introduced in the US in the next few weeks. About a third of Netflix subscribers live in the United States and Canada.
Netflix has more than 231 million paying subscribers in 190 countries. The Los Gatos, California-based company estimates that 100 million households currently share their accounts with others, which affects the company’s ability to invest in new programming.
“We’ve always made it easier for people who live together to share their Netflix account with features like profiles and multi-streaming,” the company said in a blog post on Wednesday. “Although these were wildly popular, they also caused confusion about when and how you can share Netflix.”
Starting Wednesday, Netflix said it will allow regular and premium subscribers in Canada, Spain, New Zealand and Portugal to create an additional account for up to two people they don’t live with for an additional monthly fee. Monthly fees vary by country; In Canada it’s 7.99 Canadian dollars, while in Portugal it’s 3.99 euros.
Netflix said it will also allow people who borrow accounts to transfer their viewing history and other preferences to a new paid subscription.
Netflix did not say what actions it will take if subscribers continue to share accounts outside their home. On a conference call with investors in January, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said the company is trying to be measured and gradual in its rollout.
“It’s worth noting that this isn’t going to be a universally popular move, so there will be existing members who are unhappy with this move. We’ll see a little bit of a cancellation backlash for that,” he said. “We think this is similar to what we see when we raise prices.”