Netflix (Etilities Forum) has announced that there will be an extra $1 per month charged for access to its growing library of hi-def Blu-Ray titles.  Subscribers don’t seem to consider this fee outrageous, given the significantly higher purchase price of these discs over their standard DVD counterparts.  However, it does break the mold that Netflix has kept thus far in that it’s the first pricing tier centered on the type of content being rented rather than the number of titles that can be held at a time.  It’s been theorized that this model of price increase could extend to heavy online streaming users, or those that use other “special” services.

Current Netflix subscribers should know that this charge will be automatically applied to their accounts if there are any Blu-Ray DVDs in their queue, so you may be subjected to a charge without being aware of it.

While this will currently affect only the 500 or so Blu-Ray titles in their library, there’s no doubt that those numbers will only increase over time.

©2008-2009, Gallop Services, Inc. All rights reserved.