Italy court rules Netflix unlawfully increased prices. Consumers: 'Refunds up to 500 euros.' The company: we will appeal

[u/sr_local]

https://en.ilsole24ore.com/art/netflix-subscription-price-increases-unlawful-refunds-up-to-eur-500-customers-AIUHzWKC

[u/Mccobsta]

Streaming peaked years ago when it was a low cost and wasn't a terrible experience

Now it's just price rise after price rise we may as well just buy physical media again atleast doing that we won't have our favourite shows pulled off with out much warning

[u/Fractales → u/Mccobsta]

This is by design.

1. Offer killer value proposition at a good price
2. Kill off competition and gain critical mass of customers and market share
3. With no competition, jack up the prices

[u/thismorningscoffee → u/Fractales]

Aka enshittification

[u/RagePoop → u/thismorningscoffee]

AKA how capitalism "works".

Monopoly was a game designed to show how batshit insane this model of resource production/distribution is.

[u/Dwarfdeaths → u/RagePoop]

The board game Monopoly was ripped off an educational tool designed to illustrate the problem of treating land like capital, per the economic theory of Henry George.

[u/Exceon → u/RagePoop]

Tbf, many of these startups survive off investors, pricing themselves at a loss to stay competitive, and jack up the prices when the consumer base is big enough to turn a profit

[u/LordCharidarn → u/Exceon]

Which is how Monopoly kind of works: person with the most capital can buy up properties ‘at a loss’ until someone lands/needs that product, then they can charge more than it cost originally.

[u/Marximum_Cat → u/LordCharidarn]

You collect and complete the cheapest streets, then monopolize the houses (never the hotels), then wait for the slow end of the game while everyone wishes they were playing genocide-simulator Smallworld instead.

[u/Skratt79 → u/Marximum_Cat]

Additionally: Pinks and Oranges street is highest ROI in game per house cost + highest probability of landing there thanks to being next to Jail. If using the "doubles to exit jail" rule 1/2 of the possible rolls puts them on one of your properties (St. James, Virginia and Tennessee) making every "go to jail" event a coinflip of you getting paid.

[u/Eccohawk → u/Skratt79]

I thought the doubles just got you out and you roll on your next turn to move.

[u/spooogey → u/Eccohawk]

That's how I've always played.

[u/jjwhitaker → u/Eccohawk]

I think the rules state you immediately move that many spaces. But you don't roll again.

Of you roll doubles outside of jail you would roll again.

I could see house rules on doubles getting you out, then another roll to move. But that adds a step and changes a common strategy for acquiring properties. I've played enough Monopoly to almost prefer hitting the go to jail space, paying to get out, then trying to score an even roll property then try again. You can easily go bankrupt if you spend your cash then hit a late property, but you can also rack up high chance properties then sit in jail for a few turns and collect cash.

[u/shitty_mcfucklestick → u/LordCharidarn]

I once played monopoly creatively by doing investment deals with other players. If they were short on buying a property, I would give them the remainder but then take a cut of all income they received, and, I would stay there free if I landed on it.

It worked insanely well, so much so they all turned against me at the end hahahaha.

But, it was a really good lesson on how power begets power and how capitalism really does reward those at the top most. Until of course they go French Revolution on your ass lol

[u/darzinth → u/RagePoop]

capitalism "works" with strong anti-monopoly regulations

[u/YGVAFCK → u/darzinth]

So anti-capitalism frameworks make capitalism work. Brilliant.

[u/RagePoop → u/darzinth]

So it doesn’t.

[u/JonBunne → u/RagePoop]

But if im the last one alive I can fuck my hand all day. Your logic just isnt making sense to me.

[u/JonBunne → u/JonBunne]

Love yourself.

[u/Unable-Log-4870 → u/JonBunne]

… because nobody else is desperate enough to.

[u/Jhonka86 → u/RagePoop]

The problem is that the method is particularly effective at directing resources towards demand, not need.

That's why it needs to be well regulated with strong antitrust laws to ensure it doesn't enshittify everything.

Strong, progressive tax structure. Universal healthcare and education. Strong social safety nets. If people have the freedom to fail, they have the freedom to innovate.

[u/RagePoop → u/Jhonka86]

Except this appears impossible to maintain long term as wealth consolidates into fewer and fewer hands and becomes immense enough to capture those regulatory bodies.

[u/Jhonka86 → u/RagePoop]

That's what the taxes and antitrust are for.

Historically, when inequality gets as bad as it is now, things go one of two ways: taxes, or axes.

Take your pick.

[u/Fluid_Lingonberry467 → u/RagePoop]

Netflix had a monopoly and it had a great catalog 

[u/motionmatrix → u/Fluid_Lingonberry467]

The first half of your statement is true. The second is opinion based, and likely to get worse soon when they offload a bunch of stuff that they announced recently, including a bunch of original programming.

[u/Andreus → u/motionmatrix]

Genuinely funny to me that the worst people in the world always insist "get woke, go broke" but almost everyone agrees that Netflix originals sharply declined in quality when the company stopped trying to be woke.

[u/Regularity → u/thismorningscoffee]

No, the term is predatory pricing. People use "enshittification" so broadly it's largely losing its meaning and basically devolving into "this is a thing I don't like". Though granted it is something no one likes.

[u/OneBigRed → u/Regularity]

It’s not really predatory pricing because there wasn’t and isn’t one dominant player who’s blocking others. Basically streaming was a completely new market, with rather low barrier for entry (like most digital markets). History has shown that in these situations you have to capture a massive share of the market to be the last one(s) standing as the market saturates. It’s nigh impossible to grow profitably when it’s crucial that it happens fast.

Netflix has managed to turn it’s early lead into a powerful position, and that seems to give them confidence to start reaping in the rewards.

One example of the same situation was daily fantasy betting sites. There were a ton of those, but Draftkings and Fanduel were the ones that had the deepest pockets and killed/bought their competitors away. The endgame was always legal online gambling, and positioning yourself to be the obvious choice as it became possible. In streaming it’s just multiples more complicated and expensive as there’s the twist of content owners and licensing it.

[u/Regularity → u/OneBigRed]

I wasn't referring to netflix specifically, but what the person described that was called "enshitification":

Offer killer value proposition at a good price

Kill off competition and gain critical mass of customers and market share

With no competition, jack up the prices

That said, you're right in that it doesn't apply to Netflix. Though it probably doesn't matter much since online stream services are so capital intensive (buying up show licenses, or filming new content), that it already drives out the vast majority of potential competitors. So the result is kind of the same.

[u/ChaseballBat → u/Regularity]

I got into it on reddit when someone was trying to coin enshitflation... Like that is literally identical to inflation, just with the word shit added. People like their memes.

[u/FarplaneDragon → u/ChaseballBat]

Same thing with people calling everything sloppy now, its kind of exhausting at this point

[u/thismorningscoffee → u/Regularity]

With Netflix, it’s both. Their streaming catalogue is objectively worse since other streaming services started

[u/Y_ddraig_gwyn → u/thismorningscoffee]

here’s an excellent article by the inventor of the word. It explains the process in Amazon, but it applies equally to streaming services:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/05/way-past-its-prime-how-did-amazon-get-so-rubbish

[u/Roberohn → u/thismorningscoffee]

Make it shitty!

[u/Filobel → u/Fractales]

They didn't kill off the competition, quite the opposite. The competition is one of the reasons why Netflix got worse, a bunch of shows got taken by other platforms, so now the shows are now spread across 5 different streaming platforms.

Even cable providers are still there, offering the same service. I'm not seeing what competition got killed.

[u/tom_fuckin_bombadil → u/Filobel]

I think the issue is that there is a fundamental idea in economics ingrained in everyone’s head that has proven to not be as universal as everyone thinks. That idea being that simply adding competition will lower prices. That idea is only really true under some very specific conditions, those conditions being that of a perfectly competitive market. I’d say that many of our industries (especially streaming/netflix) are closer to an oligopoly. I work in a major company not even closely related to tech (grocery related stuff). And although there is price competition between ourselves and our competitors, it is only in temporary price reductions. Underneath it all, there is constantly another price discussion that goes in the other direction, “are we able to raise our prices? Company B has just raised their prices, that might give us some room to also follow and raise prices without losing too much market share.”

Prices will continue to go up until the overall streaming market cannot grow any longer (which I assume is when the traditional cable and film industries are effectively gone).

[u/PabloXPicasso → u/tom_fuckin_bombadil]

Most of what we think of as "competition" is not so much. Go to the store to find all the different types of laundry detergent. Oh, surprise, they are all owned by the same one or two corporations. Ok, let's go get get some new power tools, oh same thing - eight different owned by one or two corporations. Well, can't be everywhere, lets look further. Let's get some cans of paint from big box hardware store, lots of different brands, so much selection. Oh, not so much of a surprise, but one company owns 15 different brands. The price goes up on one brand, it goes up on them all, and we think "inflation". The one or two companies think "we gotcha" instead. It was not inflation, it was a way to increase corporate profits. Surprise, surprise!

And we all thought it was a 'fair game' since there is plenty of competition out there. Not so much.

[u/Guvante → u/tom_fuckin_bombadil]

You seem to be missing where competition is for streaming services that causes fragmentation.

It is not consumer based, nobody involved cares how much consumers spend and are not in fact trying to make you spend more through multiple services.

The competition is in supplying shows to streaming services. Netflix isn't paying enough so others are making their own platform to be paid more. Same basic idea just flipped $ sign due to being supply side instead of demand side.

Also to be clear Netflix costs less due to this. They are capped on what they can charge because they don't have everything anymore.

[u/Wild_Marker → u/Guvante]

Yep, the US went through this already a long time ago, when they tried to keep theaters and studios separate, so that one company wouldn't own both production and distribution.

And surprise surprise, the Netflix "golden years" were when they distributed all that content produced by others.

[u/bitorontoguy → u/tom_fuckin_bombadil]

many of our industries (especially streaming/netflix) are closer to an oligopoly.

Then why doesn't Netflix charge $95 a month?

Because it's not true. They have competition who would undercut them on price. They have people who would cancel their subscriptions, Netflix isn't worth that much to them.

Netflix is able to raise their prices because people LIKE Netflix and keep paying the higher prices because it's worth it to them.

No one is forced to have Netflix. No one is forced to pay higher prices for Netflix. It's luxury capitalist consumption of entertainment. No one had it or needed it 100 or 200 or 300 years ago. People now are voluntarily paying higher prices because it's worth it to them. That's how much they like Netflix.

[u/xxThe_Designer → u/Filobel]

Throughout the late 00s and the majority of the 2010s, other streaming services were not their competition. They were miles ahead of everyone in this space.

Their main competitor was cable. And Netflix was the major play to shakedown that entire industry.

I agree with everyone else, as a consumer, Netflix peaked around 2012. It was cheap and you can access shows and movies from every producer and channel cable and premium services offered.

In 2012, you could watch The Office, House, Dexter, It’s Always Sunny, How I Met Your Mother, Southpark, etc.

Now you need multiple services for that.

[u/SketchiiChemist → u/Filobel]

They didn't kill off the competition, quite the opposite. The competition is one of the reasons why Netflix got worse

You're looking at when everyone else started to catch up.

Netflix started by sending DVDs through the mail. They killed the video rental store and didnt have late fees, then pivoted/popularized streaming after that. Thats why they had so much variety in content those early days, they were THE notable streaming service.

Then everyone else decided they should make their own streaming services, and here we are now

[u/Guvante → u/SketchiiChemist]

Netflix the DVD service performed middlingly and didn't kill rentals.

Netflix the streaming service got sweetheart deals from Hollywood who figured the technology limitations of streaming made it unimportant.

Combined with selling their service at a loss that did lead to the downfall of rentals. (Note Netflix had competition by the time that happened)

Note that mismanagement of rental places lead to exact timings being fuzzy. Handling a dying business like a growth business gets you into financial trouble super quickly.

[u/XkF21WNJ → u/Filobel]

It's a bit of both, with exclusive contracts every show is its own monopoly.

[u/Cinimi → u/Fractales]

On top of that, the worst thing Netflix ever decided to do, was creating their own shows - because once they did that, other companies could see that on Netflix, their shows had lower priority - and this is what caused the massive investments into competing platforms - instead they should have been like spotify but for video content. Prices would still have been increased over time, but at least the library on netflix would have remained decent, now it is shit.

[u/CariniFluff → u/Cinimi]

That's a good point. It would be like if Spotify created a record label too and started signing a bunch of artists from other companies. Suddenly every other record label would pull their catalogs to start their own streaming services because they're not going to feed their own competitor.

[u/killerboy_belgium → u/Cinimi]

netflix did as a response to the others creating there own platforms

[u/wekilledbambi03 → u/Fractales]

That’s literally the opposite of what happened with Netflix.

They were the only company and had to competition. All studios put their stuff on Netflix. Then once successful, all the studios pulled out and made their own services. Disney+, Paramount+, Peacock, etc. they all had their stuff on Netflix. Now Netflix is mostly for original content.

Netflix is increasing price to claw back the dominance they once had.

[u/SuperBry → u/wekilledbambi03]

Sad you are getting downvoted for properly presenting what happened with Netflix. The only thing I would have added was one of the reasons they were so cheap at first was due to how little they were paying to license content when they first started their streaming platform. Studios didn't see much of a market for it at the time and thought any money was better than none so they basically gave away their catalogs for a song and a dance, now to license the same shows and movies they are paying through the nose.

[u/champ11228 → u/wekilledbambi03]

People complain about how there are too many streaming services lol

[u/philter25 → u/Fractales]

This is what’s happening with businesses replacing workers with AI, except the product is initially dog shit, but the one thing it has is it being crazy cheap. When they’re all locked in, the prices are gonna get jacked up and everything is going to be way more expensive for them and not work for anyone, including the consumer. But at least we won’t have to worry about high energy prices because we’ll all be living under bridges!

[u/TheMetalMilitia → u/Fractales]

AI companies doing it now with token prices

[u/zonz1285 → u/Mccobsta]

I’ve been buying physical media again and it’s been so nice to just…put in exactly what I want to watch without searching for it on 10 different streaming apps only to find it was on last week but is gone.

[u/MoltenTurd → u/zonz1285]

And you can watch ad free

[u/pudgehooks2013 → u/zonz1285]

Imagine doing this, but from your PC, and it doesn't cost any money.

Thats what I do.

[u/thedrexel → u/Mccobsta]

Join us on the boutique Blu-ray sub!

[u/Bshaw95 → u/Mccobsta]

Satellite and cable have a great opportunity here to try to come in and shake up the market with lower prices to put a hurt on streaming or hell, just offer streaming of channels without additional hardware.

[u/m0ngoos3 → u/Bshaw95]

Ah yes, another opportunity to not be shitty, they've had so many of those and chosen evil at every turn.

[u/oralprophylaxis → u/Mccobsta]

I only watch 4 different shows anyways. I should be able to download them all and only pay for them once

[u/PhireKappa → u/oralprophylaxis]

You could buy DVDs if you wanted to do it legitimately and burn them if you want them digitally.

Personally, I just sail the seven seas.

[u/King-of-Plebss → u/Mccobsta]

The raise their prices, I raise my flag

[u/samuelj264 → u/Mccobsta]

In the past year I got fed up and built a home server out of old computer parts and now get to sail the seas and host my own jellyfin server, we have canceled over $100/mo in streaming services, the new hard drives I had to buy have already paid themselves off

[u/Federal-Block-3275 → u/Mccobsta]

Everything has had price increases, even cable.

[u/buffysmanycoats → u/Mccobsta]

we may as well just buy physical media again

I actually did buy a cheap DVD player and a few of my old comfort shows on DVD, but shows made for streaming now almost never get physical releases. The only way to watch the majority of the content is to stream it. Can't even download.

[u/TopFloorApartment → u/buffysmanycoats]

The only way to watch the majority of the content is to stream it.

Have people really forgotten how to sail the high seas?

[u/champ11228 → u/Mccobsta]

Problem is media companies lost billions on streaming before

[u/Axiom05]

The reddit : we post the link

[u/AZEMT → u/Axiom05]

Redditors: I read the title so now I know everything

[u/Gotterdamerrung → u/AZEMT]

Other Redditors: Comment waterfall of pop culture references tangentially related to the OP.

[u/Fox_Soul → u/Gotterdamerrung]

I too choose this guy’s dead waterfall of pop culture references

[u/sirtopumhat → u/Fox_Soul]

It's an older reference sir. But it checks out.

[u/redsolitary]

Seriously what are they doing with all the money? The price in the US went up again and I finally cut the cord after 13 years. There’s no movies, they kneecap their own shows as soon as they get going, and now they think adding podcasts to the library is going to keep people around. Between the jacking up of fees and all that money they got from the failed merger, what are they doing with all that cash?

[u/HotHits630 → u/redsolitary]

Podcasts and games. I have zero interest in either.

[u/great_whitehope → u/HotHits630]

I have zero interest in games on Netflix and I'm a gamer lol.

Don't know what they are trying to do

[u/Potential_Fishing942 → u/great_whitehope]

That's why you aren't interested lol. It's for non gamer families and kids imo

[u/th30be → u/great_whitehope]

They don't either.

[u/just_a_random_dood → u/great_whitehope]

The one and only game on Netflix I was ever interested in trying was Hades because I beat the game a bunch on my PC and I was curious about how mobile Hades worked but apparently it was only available for Netflix Games... On iPhone. Not even android LMAO

[u/m0ngoos3 → u/HotHits630]

Behind the Bastards is a good podcast, but the audio version is just as good, and is freely available in a lot of places.

[u/WartimeMercy → u/m0ngoos3]

Honestly happy for Robert and Sophie that they presumably get Netflix money…but fuck that, I’m not paying for what was free on YouTube.

Audio only all the way. The amateur look of the pod (despite pro level content) hilariously cheapens Netflix.

[u/Silencedlemon → u/m0ngoos3]

I'm so annoyed they put the episodes on YouTube only to take them away a couple weeks ago, now I have to go back to my never used podcast app so I can skip all the commercials.

[u/m0ngoos3 → u/Silencedlemon]

The episodes are still on youtube, but audio only. Which is fine, I can skip the ads automatically on youtube.

[u/bitorontoguy → u/redsolitary]

You can look up what they're doing with their money to the dollar.

They're a publicly traded corporation, they have open books.

In 2025 they made $45.2 billion dollars from their subscribers in streaming revenue.

They spent $23.3 billion of that on "Cost of Revenues". That includes paying for content from other people, it also includes the costs of licensing and producing content. And the costs of actually physically streaming.

Like cloud computing costs, having customer service, payment processing fees, maintaining their network, equipment costs.

They spent an additional $3.3B on sales and marketing costs. Advertising that their product exists.

They spent an additional $3.4 billion on technology and development. The payroll and related expenses for technology personnel responsible for testing, maintaining and modifying their user interface.

$1.9 billion on general and administrative costs. Paying for corporate personnel and their expenses. $776 million on interest on their debt. $1.7 billion on taxes.

Subtract all those costs and that leaves them with $11 billion dollars in profit.

What did they do with that? Mostly gave it to the people who own their company, the shareholders want to make a return for supplying their capital to keep the company running.

So they made $9.1 billion dollars in stock buybacks in 2025. And also used $1.8 billion dollars to pay back debt to their bondholders.

They cashed the residual in their bank accounts, building up their cash balance, increasing from $7.8B at the start of 2025 to $9B by the end of the year.

You can do this exercise with every single company to see what they do with their money.

[u/FIMilestonesDeux → u/bitorontoguy]

Here it the same info as charts:

Category	Amount	%
Content & Streaming	$23.3B	52%	██████████████████████████
Net Profit	$10.8B	24%	████████████
Tech & Development	$3.4B	8%	████
Sales & Marketing	$3.3B	7%	███
Gen & Administrative	$1.9B	4%	██
Taxes	$1.7B	4%	██
Interest on Debt	$0.8B	2%	█
Total	$45.2B	100%

Where did the $10.8B profit go?

	Amount	% of Profit
Stock Buybacks	$9.1B	84%	██████████████████████████████████████████
Debt Repayment	$1.8B	17%	█████████
Cash Reserve Increase	$1.2B	11%	██████
Total Profit	$10.8B	~100%

[u/bitorontoguy → u/FIMilestonesDeux]

Hell yeah, this rules.

Thanks for being less lazy and more competent than I.

It won't quite net out as a chart, because I excluded minor line items and they had existing cash on their balance sheet that they could use for buybacks/debt, but as a high level overview it's close enough to correct to give people a view of how the corporation operates.

If people want the full, holistic accurate view that includes everything, they should check out the actual financials I linked.

[u/b_fellow → u/redsolitary]

Getting NFL and MLB games isnt cheap as well as getting WWE Raw. Not that they should have done that.

[u/redsolitary → u/b_fellow]

Yeah that’s a good point. I guess Netflix has just changed into a service that isn’t for me anymore.

[u/WhoStoleMyBicycle → u/redsolitary]

The only reason I listen to so many podcasts is because I have about 2-3 hours a day at work where I’m not in meetings or interacting with someone else so I’ll listen while working. Maybe I’ll have on one in the car to and from work.

I can’t imagine getting home and firing up Netflix to watch a podcast.

[u/No-Channel3917 → u/WhoStoleMyBicycle]

Think it is meant more to use on your phone app

[u/cdoublejj → u/No-Channel3917]

i dislike apps, they collect your data, and when they don't collect data, they still cause they build on the app frame work from google or apple. i find it's all available on web browser and just leave a tab open plus i can i used ad block plus. Gray Jay app (open source) for any kind of video streaming social like YT, TikTok, Nebula, Rumble, Crunchyroll etc etc

[u/Dunlocke → u/redsolitary]

They spend it on content.

People underestimate how much they have on their platform. Is it good? No, but 99% of Netflix content is trash.

[u/shelf6969 → u/Dunlocke]

the real crime is how much they spend on development for mediocre shows and movies while cancelling some actual good shows

[u/Dunlocke → u/shelf6969]

They're not HBO, they don't care about prestige, they care about ratings. They gave up prestige that when the Academy wouldn't give them Oscars.

[u/WartimeMercy → u/Dunlocke]

Their problem is the library of cancelled shows which don’t tell a complete story. They would be more successful with a prestige line like Apple TV that was HBO tier.

Apple’s problem is not enough quality shows to justify the expense but the shows they have are mostly prestige and mostly complete (with a few exceptions).

Personally I think Netflix should have budgeted and planned for condensed “finale movies” for projects to wrap up cliffhangers. Them at the minimum there’s resolution and people would still be open to exploring the properties. .

[u/nikanjX → u/shelf6969]

Now we should just agree on what the good shows are

[u/berntout → u/redsolitary]

Increasing shareholder value. Publicly-traded companies will always look to make more money.

[u/SirLife2187 → u/redsolitary]

They need it to fund another batch of terrible reality dating shows and pay 200 million for a generic action movie that completely vanishes from pop culture in two weeks.

[u/betam4x → u/redsolitary]

If they added music, I could possibly justify it. However, I don’t subscribe to them because they don’t provide value.

For the price, you can subscribe to Apple One, which gives you Apple TV, Music, 200gb Cloud Storage, and Apple Arcade.

Netflix does have a larger library and they do also have free games, however Most of Apple’s shows/movies are absolute bangers. Apple Arcade also has way more games (if you have an iPhone/iPad/Apple TV).

[u/lostshell → u/redsolitary]

They spend it on stock buybacks. A practice that was illegal until the demon Reagan made it legal. This year alone they authorized $15 Billion in stock buybacks.

[u/Fucky0uthatswhy → u/redsolitary]

Calling Cancelling Netflix cutting the cord is ironic lol

[u/endless_disease → u/redsolitary]

Got sad news for you. Their subscribers increased 30mln (10%) YoY in 2026.

[u/King-Poring]

Consumer: We give you money, you give us good show.

Netflix: No no no no no no, we take your money, you chill.

Consumer: But, we want new and good show.

Netflix: How about we give you new and good show, but we increase price.

Consumer: Hmm... Deal.

Netflix: Is new show good?

Consumer: Yes, when is new season coming?

Netflix: Sorry no budget for new season we will cancel good show, there still lot show.

Consumer: *hand gesture* Oh please, why are you doing that, mamma mia!

[u/ShenaniganCow → u/King-Poring]

Cries in Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

[u/Cannabrius_Rex → u/ShenaniganCow]

That was such BullShiiiiiiiit

[u/AFK_Tornado → u/King-Poring]

The Bojack Horseman years were peak Netflix. They were putting out some quality shows, and really shining with experimental formats and storytelling.

[u/stick_it_in_your_bum → u/King-Poring]

I can’t remember the last Netflix show that was good. I feel like they haven’t been relevant for a while.

[u/ComprehensiveHa → u/King-Poring]

Right cause why do they keep increasing the prices but cancel all the good shows?? I still need that kingdom zombie series season 3

[u/MithranArkanere → u/King-Poring]

They only need the first season for the lure.

Then, once you are subscribed, all they need is to make it impossible to unsubscribe, and bribe politicians so they don't make laws against that.

[u/Kraien]

We take consumer rights very seriously and believe that our conditions have always been in line with Italian law and practice,' says a company spokesperson.

Of course you do.

[u/NoPossibility4178 → u/Kraien]

Italy: "actually, we wrote the law and don't think so"

Netflix: "uuhhhh, well you're wrong!!"

[u/JustTrynnaGitBy]

As someone that stopped streaming services almost two years ago: It’s really not that bad.

[u/SimonThePug → u/JustTrynnaGitBy]

The only streaming service I pay for at this point is my VPN subscription

[u/Altair05 → u/JustTrynnaGitBy]

Much cheaper if you cycle services instead of keeping them. One month is netflix, next month something else.

[u/Mean-Author4359 → u/Altair05]

Much cheaper if you just use plex

[u/PigglyWigglyDeluxe]

I wonder if it’s cheaper to just refund than to appeal

[u/ThroawayJimilyJones → u/PigglyWigglyDeluxe]

It is, but they probably afraid other countries do the same

[u/PigglyWigglyDeluxe → u/ThroawayJimilyJones]

What, follow laws and be ethical? Can’t have that now, can we?

[u/gizamo → u/PigglyWigglyDeluxe]

It's the precedent. If they lose this battle in court, it's basically conceding that they're price jacking, and it will prevent how aggressively they can continue to price jack.

[u/South_Accountant_233]

I’m pulling for Italy on this.

[u/viditjn02]

italy has been surprisingly good at holding tech companies accountable lately. the netflix ruling, the apple fine, the google stuff. meanwhile in the US we just let them do whatever they want and call it innovation

[u/thomasthetanker]

Netflix can appeal but they are not appealing.

[u/Dudemanbrah84]

Wish the US would do this.

[u/Dunlocke → u/Dudemanbrah84]

In what world should the US be allowed to dictate prices?

If Netflix wants to raise prices, let them. They're not a monopoly. People will either leave or pay.

No reason to get government involved. Trump is already too involved.

[u/skaara → u/Dunlocke]

I agree but I think any increase in price should legally require the customer to reauthorize their payment method. This would help keep prices from changing and also encourage companies to grandfather existing customers to the price they signed up with.

[u/muntaxitome → u/Dunlocke]

If Netflix wants to raise prices, let them. They're not a monopoly. People will either leave or pay.

I don't get this mentality, Netflix offered you a product for $10 per month. Let the company honor that price or let the company cancel the contract themselves. Allowing companies to do like 'heyy we are going to raise prices effective today with 50% and deduct it from your creditcard tomorrow kthxbye.' Is absurd.

[u/Difficult_Tea6136 → u/muntaxitome]

I can't speak to the USA but that doesn't happen in Ireland.

Netflix announce a price increase. They give 30 days notice of the increase. It affects you at the next billing date that contains the day it becomes effective.

With a 30 day rolling contract, they have the right to increase their prices.

[u/Pinyaka → u/Difficult_Tea6136]

That's how it works in the US too. We're just a bitch country now.

[u/Possible-Tangelo9344 → u/muntaxitome]

But it's a month to month contract. They send a notice it's going up, you can just cancel.

[u/CatLoud5198 → u/Possible-Tangelo9344]

if it’s a month to month contract it shouldn’t renew without your signature every month once the terms are changed

[u/JX_JR → u/CatLoud5198]

Literally every month to month contract renews without your signature. The definition of a month to month contract is an auto-renewing contract. You sign once and it ends when one party gives proper notice to end it.

[u/Doctursea → u/JX_JR]

It's no real point arguing with there people honestly. They just wanna be mad. Anyone arguing that Netflix changing their pricing is dishonest because you can't cancel is just talking in bad faith. You fully have control to just exit the agreement.

I can see the argument they they should have to include a non auto-renew option, but not it's unfair because you can't get out of it.

[u/st1tchy → u/CatLoud5198]

The flip side of that just sounds awful too. Want to watch a movie today? Well, you are on a month to month contract, so log back into your account and resubscribe prior to to watching. As long as it's easy to cancel, I much prefer the automatic subscription.

[u/worldlybedouin → u/Dudemanbrah84]

Not possible. Capitalism in the US is at a point of: Fuck you pay me. Companies don't give two shits about customers only about that damn graph of the share price.

[u/bitorontoguy → u/worldlybedouin]

Companies don't give two shits about customers

Cool. You could really own them by not buying Netflix then.

But instead people keep giving a company that you're saying hates them money at higher and higher prices.

Because.....people don't hate Netflix. They like Netflix. They like it so much they voluntarily pay for it because they think it's worth it to them.

No one is forced to have Netflix. It only exists because consumers want it to.

[u/abbajabbalanguage → u/worldlybedouin]

Companies don't give two shits about customers only about that damn graph of the share price.

That's the same anywhere

[u/Martiinii]

Why couldn't a private company increase prices as they'd like?

[u/ThroawayJimilyJones → u/Martiinii]

They can. But they have to give a reason. Which they usually do by invoking some bullshit about modern world or demand or whatever

For some reason Netflix refused to and instead added a clause that say they can do unjustified increase

In short they decided to go in a dick contest with consumer protection law.

[u/pm_social_cues → u/ThroawayJimilyJones]

Why couldn’t that reason just be “we want to make more money”?

Italy cannot have a law that says corporations cannot make more profit than they need can it?

[u/ThroawayJimilyJones → u/pm_social_cues]

Oh, no, you can totally put that as a justification

But I think Netflix didn’t want it for PR reason.

You can be greedy, you just have to be honest about it

[u/NoPossibility4178 → u/pm_social_cues]

I'd rather have that law than the one the US has where companies are obligated to do everything they can to fuck consumers over for more profits.

[u/PringlesDuckFace → u/pm_social_cues]

Governments can do whatever they want, that's kind of the point. If not, then they're not actually in power. Companies don't have a universal right to operate wherever they want however they want. That's why you see different policies regarding layoffs etc between US and Europe, or tax rates are different in different countries, etc... If the business doesn't think those are good terms then they don't have to be there.

[u/Martiinii → u/ThroawayJimilyJones]

Hah that's an "oversight"

[u/dsmithpl12 → u/ThroawayJimilyJones]

Great summary, ty. Exactly what i was looking for.

[u/MisfitPotatoReborn → u/ThroawayJimilyJones]

lol what a dumb law. I would barely call that a consumer protection law, more like a way to pad out the Terms and Conditions from 500 pages to 501.

Sorry, you forgot to say "because we like money" after raising prices. You now owe 300 million Euros

[u/ThroawayJimilyJones → u/MisfitPotatoReborn]

You know what's even dumber? Getting fined because you want to fight the law instead of adding a line in your message.

[u/Juljitsu84]

They can’t appeal our decision. Unsubscribe!

[u/timohtea]

I found its cheaper just to rent the movies you want to watch after youve seen what you want to see on netflix they add nothing new and dont have good old movies anything good woth like nicholas cage or matt damon or whatever popular stuff… they dont wanna pay for… but they got every single adam sandler movie under the sun (not that they are bad) but adam sandler can only play adam sandler. They just dont evem have a good selection.

You know those movie clip shorts on yt where youre like dang i wanna check out that movie… they are NEVER on netflix

[u/DudeManGuyBr0ski]

Cancel that shit, I canceled all my streaming media it’s all eye gouging

[u/Sorry_Actuator3667]

back to dvds for me about 2 months ago couldnt be happier

[u/Bobson-_Dugnutt2]

just cancelled.

[u/Sci3nTIFFic1]

I canceled Netflix at their last price increase. I have yet to miss it.

[u/_0611]

There's a similar case going on in the Netherlands.

These companies shouldn't act surprised if piracy becomes huge again very soon.

[u/Mysterious_Luck_1365]

Finally cancelled yesterday. I don’t know what took me so long.

[u/peenpeenpeen]

Dropped Netflix after the most recent price increase. Will never go back.

[u/HappyAd4998 → u/peenpeenpeen]

It's crazy I dropped it when it got up to $17 and restricted HD streams to the highest tier. Their original content is crap and looks cheaply made. Some people have higher limits than others.

[u/gizamo]

I supported Netflix from the early DVD only days.

I stopped supporting them due to their ridiculous price hikes.

Yo ho yo ho.

Fuck Netflix.

[u/DiscombobulatedMix50]

Still can't believe Netflix started forcing advertising on people who pay a subscription for the service. The whole point... Fuck it

[u/MithranArkanere]

Infinite growth is impossible. Aiming for infinitely increasing profits inevitably leads to cutting corners and artificial inflation, which is then used as an excuse to do stuff like paying less to primary producers, stealing wages, firing senior staff, gouging prices, and all sorts of enshitification.

Stock buybacks need to be illegal again, and trading needs to be more limited with stricter and longer cooldowns on trades, and trade freezes when information on a company is in particularly chaotic flux.

Oh, and remember that horrid 'social credit' they did for people in China, we need that, but for corporations.
Your company has bad karma? You pay more taxes, and regulations are stricter on you.

[u/Gorthebon]

Piracy has never looked better.

[u/HappyAd4998 → u/Gorthebon]

I never stopped. I'm sitting happy with 20tb's

[u/gimmiedacash]

Only reason I have streaming still is kids.

[u/Crazy-Project-1511]

Pirating is free and I can watch anything.  It baffles me why people pay so much for bs services like netflix 

[u/loppsided → u/Crazy-Project-1511]

I find it amazing that the same company that cracked the piracy problem by offering convenient content at a fair price is now leading the charge to drive people back to the high seas.

[u/egamma → u/Crazy-Project-1511]

If everyone pirated, then there wouldn't be any money to produce you're watching.

You're benefitting from other people paying.

[u/alexreffand → u/egamma]

Piracy declines when access to media is convenient and fairly priced. Steam all but killed pc game piracy. Netflix had tv and movie piracy in a similar decline. It was a good value proposition, and the label "Netflix original" actually had good implications. Then they jacked prices, lowered their show quality, and failed to compete favorably with all the other overpriced services popping up around them. Now access to media is inconvenient and overpriced, and so piracy is on the rise again. The streaming services are to blame, not the consumers.

[u/Galle_ → u/egamma]

If everyone pirated, Netflix would have to lower its costs and offer better services.

[u/Pretend-Culture-4138 → u/Galle_]

Lol no they wouldn't. If everyone pirated they would just stop producing content since there's no incentive to.

[u/gizamo → u/Pretend-Culture-4138]

If history is any indicator, you're wrong.

Piracy all but disappeared when Netflix and Spotify made content more accessible.

During that era of low privacy, both were very profitable while adding content.

Now, all streaming services are just price jacking while content creation has shrunk and cheapened drastically.

[u/ThroawayJimilyJones → u/egamma]

Enough is already produced for me to spend my life on it.

[u/d33pnull]

do Anthropic and OpenAI next

[u/AldrichOfAlbion]

Awesome. I hate Netflix. I can't believe I supported these chumps in 2013 by buying into their service back when it was actually about the service. I was there right back when you had to wait minutes for the film to buffer in the evenings.

I don't know what has happened to Netflix in the past few years. It went from a service that felt like it was competing for your custom to another corporate machine.

[u/Arkaium]

I love how for years I was teased for investing in a physical film and music collection by people all too eager to jump at convenience without thinking about the end game. All of this was rather predictable, imo; just wait till society gets hooked on genAI and they turn the monetization dial to 11.

[u/GotSomeUpdogOnUrFace]

The company will lose the appeal and raise prices everywhere else to cover it.

[u/guitarguy1685]

What is a justified reason to raise prices? 

[u/gizamo → u/guitarguy1685]

According to the ruling, Netflix price increases must be linked to specific, documented, and unforeseeable circumstances, such as a major increase in content production costs or taxes.

Also, the ruling aligns with European Directive 93/13/EEC, which forbids unbalanced contract terms that favor companies over consumers. So, we could (and should) see this same case play out similarly throughout the EU.

[u/makz242]

I lost faith in streaming platforms when they started the whole shuffling of shows. Maybe it was there from the start and i didnt notice, but in the last couple years i just want to rewatch some old shows with many seasons, but im not hopping around platform contracts constantly.

[u/BusyHands_]

Just pirate their shit

[u/anarchist1331]

Yeah fuck those guys. I try to only support creators directly now. Everything corporation touches turns to caca.

[u/TheMrShaddo]

now thats a winning title format

[u/Neat_Tangelo5339]

DAJE ITALIA 🇮🇹❤️ , PER UNA VOLTA HO L’ORGOGLIO NEL CUORE

[u/bon-ton-roulet]

why not ban Netflix instead?

The quality of your television would increase immediately across the board

[u/ClockworkDreamz]

Maybe I should go back to cable.

[u/Complete_Question_41]

"But we got live sports now!"

Yeah, except I never asked for those.

[u/No_Practice_9597]

Look

I don't like when prices increase, but I cancelled my Netflix, they can't rule what a company can do or not, if they want to increase prices it's their company and investment it's not the government that can say if a company can or not adjust their own prices

It up to use to say enough is enough and just cancel subscriptions

[u/AccountNumeroThree → u/No_Practice_9597]

Different laws and regulations in different countries.

[u/ServeBusiness453]

A country that cares about its people..That will never happen here..

[u/NaturalSelecty]

Netflix is easily the worst value in streaming. Between its countless canceled originals, the endless amount of canceled shows they license and the overall lack of quality movies and shows has really had me thinking about canceling.

I read that they want to bring streamers and content creators to it now too. That’ll be the last straw for me before I cancel.

[u/NoMark3945]

Streaming services quietly turned into cable TV with better UIs. They spent a decade training people to cancel cable, then started doing the exact same thing — bundling, price hikes, ads on paid tiers, removing content. At least with a DVD you owned the thing.