Netflix customers told to pay more for sharing accounts

BRITISH Netflix subscribers who share their accounts with friends and family will face extra charges as the streaming platform prepares a crackdown.

The US company is poised to start warning UK customers whom it suspects of sharing their account details that they must stop doing so or move to its new “paid sharing” accounts.

Netflix estimates that as many as 100m households around the world share their passwords.

The company initially tolerated the practice but has been cracking down on it in an effort to revive flagging growth. The streaming giant is planning to tighten its rules in Britain later this month.

Users will be asked to set a “primary location” where they generally watch. Netflix will then use Wi-fi addresses to tell if an account is being accessed at more than one address.

Customers will face a monthly charge on top of their existing subscription for every additional household where the account is used.

It means parents who share a Netflix account with children who have gone to university must pay more, for example.

In Canada, where the crackdown began, Netflix charges an additional C$7.99 (£4.75) per month per person. In New Zealand the cost is NZ$7.99 (£3.99), while it is €3.99 (£3.47) in Portugal and €5.99 in Spain.

The company has said customers in wealthier countries will face higher fees for legal password sharing.

Netflix is braced for a torrent of complaints as it prepares for its crackdown. Ahead of the change, it has held talks with telecoms providers including BT, Virgin Media, Sky and Talktalk to warn of a flood of angry calls that are expected, the Financial Times reported.

It is common for telecoms companies to offer content bundles that include a Netflix subscription.

An initial backlash against Netflix’s crackdown has prompted the company to delay the move in some countries from the first to the second quarter of this year.

Netflix said clampdowns in Spain, Portugal, Canada and New Zealand had triggered a “cancel reaction”, where customers had simply dropped their subscription rather than agreeing to extra fees.

Despite this, the company insisted most customers began paying the extra fees after the initial drop-off.