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Earlier this week, Netflix finally did what the military hasn’t had the guts to do — invade Canada… with a streaming-only video service. But unlike most U.S. products that go across borders, the people in Canadaland are actually paying less than anyone else. But the CEO of Netflix isn’t worried about causing an uproar on this side of Niagara Falls.
When asked by The Hollywood Reporter if he thought U.S. customers would be unhappy to find out that Canadians are paying only $7.99/month CAD (~$7.75 USD), more than a dollar cheaper than the lowest streaming plan in the States, CEO Reed Hastings replied:
How much has it been your experience that Americans follow what happens in the world? It’s something we’ll monitor, but Americans are somewhat self-absorbed.
The fact that we received this in our tipline from a few dozen readers in the last couple hours might prove otherwise…
What Netflix CEO hopes U.S. won’t notice [THR]
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Its streaming-only. So shouldn’t it be cheaper?
Netflix…really? I thought much better of you.
Canadians are also getting less than everyone else.
I’ll bet this is humor lost in translation. Some enterprising reporter is probably laughing all the way to the bank.
I pay $8.95 a month for streaming and one disc at a time. Less than a dollar more PLUS not only do I get streaming I can “rent” a disc whenever of any movie they have that isn’t streaming. $.96 more a month for unlimited physical disc rentals (something Canada doesn’t have) isn’t much of a big deal to me.
APOLOGEES PLEES:
http://blog.netflix.com/2010/09/apologies.html
The apology is well done. Now he just needs to make sure folks see it. I am guessing it won’t circulate nearly as fast as his foot-in-mouth comment.
As for the pricing, Canadians are still getting short changed, as he explained, no dvd or blu-ray.
That is a crappy thing to say. I don’t NEED netflix. i’ve canceled my membership. I would have let it just go on forever, even though I only use streaming a few times a month – but this changed my mind.
There’s nothing about that statement that I disagree with. As a Canadian it makes me feel uncomfortable to be in the US where people don’t know what happens outside of US borders.
I couldn’t agree more. I feel so uncomfortable in America, what with BBC online, the rednecks, better paying jobs, a very self-indulgent populace, instant and unlimited internet access to everything that happens overseas, militarism, and more free speech protections and all. I don’t know why I live here. Americans are fat, stupid and ugly!
Yeah, iPhones are cheaper there too.
Evidentally you have never seen the terrible prices we have yo support the iPhone.
There’s 3 major reasons why Canadians should pay less that don’t involve me resorting to talking about how awesome our country is
1. Selection is much smaller, not much worth watching
2. Streaming only, no discs in the mail
3. Most Canadians have a monthly bandwidth cap of 60GB, meaning, we really can’t watch that much before we can’t watch anymore
Netflix could raise their price to $50 a month and I’d probably continue to pay…. oops, I probably shouldn’t say that out loud!
Question: what does a medium iced vanilla latte cost at Starbucks in Paris?
Answer: I don’t know and I don’t care because I don’t live in Paris. Does that make me a self-absorbed American? No. Ask yourself if the Canadians know what Americans spend on Netflix. They probably don’t know and overwhelmingly don’t give a shit.
His comment was a d-bag thing to say, but it’s also incorrect.
Well, we do read “The Consumerist”…
Its a jackass thing to say and i say we drive a boycott of Netflix…
Nah, that’s okay. You go right on ahead though. I’ve only got so much indignation, and I don’t want to use it on something as utterly non-offensive as this. Where would I be when something truly important came up? I’d have wasted my indignation on a non-issue, and that would be no good.
So I’m sorry, but I just can’t join your boycott. It ought to be alright though. You seem to have enough indignation for the both of us. Good luck and godspeed!
Much of Canada has bandwidth capped internet. At my house it’s 20GB. This pretty much excludes me from being a netflix customer at all. It’s not a matter of price either. That 20GB costs me $45 a month and delivers terrible speed. This is the reality when the population is spread thin.
The problem with netflix is that their model is controlled at a fundamental level by ISPs. In Canada that process is a lot farther a long than the US, but it’s there.
Does no one notice that Netflix put out this huge press release about how they paid the actors they hired to say they liked netflix at their grand opening? First off Isn’t that what actors do for a job? They were just causing misdirection in order to make sure this comment wasn’t widely heard…
The $7.99 CAD price is for streaming ONLY. The $8.99 USD is for streaming AND 1 DVD. Why couldn’t he just point that out instead of making incendiary comments. Gosh.
I don’t get why i would care what anyone else is paying. I looked at what Netflix had to offer, looked at the price they offered it at and made the decision that what they gave for the price they asked was a good deal so I signed up. It wouldn’t make any difference to me if Canadians were getting it for a slice of Canadian bacon and a Tim Horton’s Coupon
he’s right, only now after he said that will people actually notice, dumb ceo… lol
The real question is if Canadians can pay for Netflix with Canadian Tire money.
Oh when a CEO opens their mouth to speak… Only gems will spew forth.
Seriously why is this such a big deal is’s $12 a year more.. Plust I”m nto sure but I think this is a streaming only plan, US gets 1 out at a time too. So think of it as getting disk rentals for .25 a disk or less.
How can an America notice this? If you go to netflix.ca, you’re redirected to an American web page.
This is just one more reason why this sort of stuff makes me so angry. I have a good mind to write a letter and tell those sorry so-so’ what I think and then I am going to take … look squirrel!
– Steve
Netflix has a bad week.
http://blog.netflix.com/
First they had ‘hired’ extras to pose as enthusiastic Netflix customers that then spoke to the media on the Canadian Roll-Out.
Then CEO inserts foot in mouth about Americans.
But heck, we all make mistakes. Netflix fessed up. But if you read some of the responses to Reeds apology, you would think Netflix had blown up an oil platform.
Wait, was that too early?
Cheers!
– Steve
Until I can get all the Star Trek series (TNG, DS9, Voyager) I’m not interested. The content us Canadians have access to is extremely limited, and not worth it.
Ugh, Canadians don’t get the DVDs. Our cheapest plan for unlimited streaming includes one disc at a time, so America still sort of wins by getting more services for a pretty low cost difference. The CEO wasn’t being terribly insulting, he just chose unfortunate words. I would have phrased it as American’s are not so petty as to care that some other country gets something for $12/yr less.
Who really cares, it doesn’t matter that it’s cheaper. By the way, that service in Canada is streaming only, and its only 1 buck cheaper. Whereas, we get one DVD out + streaming for 8.99