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Sharing your Netflix password with someone for free may soon be a thing of the past.
Netflix will begin testing a new, opt-in feature that will prompt subscribers to pay extra if sharing the service with people outside their own household. The feature will allow households to add up to two “sub-accounts” for a fee that’s less than the cost of the full-priced Netflix service.
The new test run and price increase to “add an extra member” on standard and premium plans will initially be tested in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru over the next few weeks. Netflix didn’t say if or when the feature would be rolled out to global subscribers.
Netflix creates content for Black America.
In a news release posted to its website Wednesday, the streaming behemoth announced that it will begin testing ways to make users sharing an account outside the household pay for the additional members.
“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,” the company said in a statement. “While these have been hugely popular, they have also created some confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared.”
The improper sharing of accounts outside the household has affected Netflix’s “ability to invest in great new TV and films for our members,” the company said.
‘Sharing is Caring’ at a cost
The company’s terms of service say an account “may not be shared with individuals beyond your household,” a rule often ignored by subscribers who commonly share login and password information.
Those who have been illicitly sharing passwords in those three countries can transfer profile information to new accounts or to the “extra member” subscriber accounts.
The cost for the extra non-household members in the test markets is 2,380 CLP in Chile, $2.99 USD in Costa Rica and 7.9 PEN in Peru. This is less expensive than a full Netflix account plan, but it’s also more than it previously cost to share someone’s Netflix account for free.