

This flood of streaming options has complicated how many services you must use (and, often, pay for) to watch your favorite shows and movies online. These so-called streaming wars brought about a wave of new services, including Disney Plus, HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount Plus and Apple TV Plus. Netflix's dominance of streaming video - not to mention years of unflagging subscriber growth - pushed nearly all of Hollywood's major media companies to pour billions of dollars into their own streaming operations. In addition to the password-sharing fees, Netflix has also launched cheaper subscriptions supported by advertising, hoping to entice more people to pay for Netflix if they don't have to pay quite as much.

But last year, Netflix started testing ways to "monetize account sharing" after recording its deepest subscriber losses in a decade. Netflix tweeted " love is sharing a password" once, and founder Reed Hastings said in 2016 that he loves when people share Netflix. More countries, including the US, are expected to get the new charges as the initiative rolls out globally.įor years, Netflix was relatively lax about password sharing. The end of free Netflix password sharing has begun: Last week, the streaming service began rolling out a system that charges fees for "extra member" subaccounts when people outside one household use the same membership, launching in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain.
