Netflix Policy Effective Immediately as Disney+ and Hulu Remove Content - Inside the Magic

It’s a weird time for streaming right now. Disney announced that in the midst of their Disney+ and Hulu merger, they’ll be slowly removing content from both platforms. HBOMax has dropped the HBO, arguably their biggest identifier, and are now just going by Max. And today, Netflix finally implemented a policy they’ve been threatening for a long time.

It was announced back in April that Netflix would be cracking down on their password-sharing policy, specifically in the US. It had already implemented this policy in other parts of the world earlier this year, but it was finally time for the United States to face the music. Today is that day.

Netflix sent an email out to subscribers letting them know that their accounts were for them and the people living in their household alone. The email informed them that people with profiles under their account would be able to transfer to new memberships without losing their watch history and assured subscribers that the new policy wouldn’t affect them while traveling.

To help with the policy, Netflix will be blocking devices after a certain period of time that attempt to use an account that isn’t listed as their home location. If subscribers don’t want to purchase an all-new membership, existing members can upgrade their subscriptions to allow an extra member to be added.

The company has explained they expect to see a drop in revenue during the initial period but expect the number of memberships to increase again after a period of time, citing their experience with the Canadian market as a model. However, online reactions aren’t looking good for the streaming platform, with many threatening to cancel and find content elsewhere or subscribe to a different service.

Hot on the heels of the Disney, Hulu, and Max announcements, it seems like streaming services are struggling right now. Fans are reaching their limits between the amount of different streaming services and the cost associated with each of them as prices rise while people struggle financially. Streaming was originally supposed to be the answer to the high cost of cable, and now it’s effectively taken the same place. For many, sharing a Netflix account was the only way to afford it. With this new policy and the future of streaming uncertain, Netflix may see more members leaving for good.

Will you be keeping or cancelling your Netflix account? Let Inside the Magic know your thoughts in the comments below.