It’s been an interesting few months for Netflix as subscribers were up in arms about how they were going to change their account sharing policy–which they backpedaled on after just two days–and the company rolling in an ad-based tier. The latter is a moderate success so far, but the company has already come up with a new plan on how exactly account sharing will work in the future.
While this plan doesn’t have a timeframe to be implemented in the US, it’s already been explored in Latin America and is soon to be hitting Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain. On its corporate page, they go through the new process and what will be different this time around.
First is setting up the account user’s primary location. This step will ensure that anyone who lives in that particular household can use that Netflix account. After that is established, members can manage who has access to their account from our new Manage Access and Devices page. It is not mentioned how many devices can be linked to the account.
A new feature is transferring profiles. People who use an account can now easily transfer a profile to a new account that they pay for, which will “keep their personalized recommendations, viewing history, My List, saved games, and more.”
Now the big situation was traveling. Originally it was proposed that members have to log back into their central or prime location after seven days while traveling to still have access. There is no time limit mentioned in this new plan.
How they want to crack down on password sharing is simply replacing it with an actual membership or plan onto the main account. “Members on our Standard or Premium plan in many countries (including Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain) can add an extra member sub-account for up to two people they don’t live with.”
Each sub-account will come with its profile, personalized recommendations, login, and password. The cost? In Canada, it would be an extra CAD$7.99 a month per person, NZD $7.99 in New Zealand, 3.99 Euro in Portugal, and 5.99 Euro in Spain.
Again, there is still no word on anything about the US, but this is the first time Netflix is breaking down its new tier structure and details that could be a hint on how things will go when it does eventually roll out in the States.
There are still a few unanswered questions on how this new process will work for deployed servicemembers, kids who go to college, even children of divorce who now have two homes.
Image: Netflix
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