Score one for the FTC—and by proxy, consumers—for their statement in the Netflix class action settlement, which as originally proposed offered a one-month upgrade to customers affected. (So if you were on a three-a-month plan, you’d get a four-a-month plan for a single month.) A one-month upgrade that would automatically transition into the higher movies-per-month plan after the free period. Ars Technica reports this quote from the FTC:
In the instant case, the Commission believes that the negative option aspect of the proposed settlement appears dangerously close to being a promotional gimmick. Specifically, the value of the benefit offered each class member is very low, both because those members who accept the benefit receive very little of value and because it is reasonably foreseeable that many class members will forgo any benefit altogether to avoid the negative option.
