People who share their Netflix account with friends and family outside their own home could soon be asked to pay more for their subscription.
The streaming service has announced a pilot scheme to run in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru where holders of accounts it determines are being used in more than one household will be asked to cease sharing or pay to add a sub-account.
In a blog post the firm said: “We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account, with features like separate profiles and multiple streams in our Standard and Premium plans.
“While these have been hugely popular, they have also created some confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared. As a result, accounts are being shared between households – impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films for our members.”
In addition to charging the account holder to continue sharing their account, Netflix will introduce an option to transfer a profile to a separate account without losing their viewing history or watchlist.
The firm added: “We recognize that people have many entertainment choices, so we want to ensure any new features are flexible and useful for members, whose subscriptions fund all our great TV and films.
“We’ll be working to understand the utility of these two features for members in these three countries before making changes anywhere else in the world.”
