Netflix announced its customers that it is raising the rental prices of Blu-ray movies and television shows starting April 27 to $9, but the price will depend on the plan the customer chooses. The company said the higher rates will allow it to stock more Blu-ray copies in order to keep the pace with the increasing demand. 

 

The change will not affect the customers who rent standard DVDs. 

 

For subscribers, the rental rate will go up about 20 percent, from $13 to $17 per month for customers who rent three movies at a time. Renting eight DVDs at a time will cost you $47.99 a month, plus an additional $9.00 monthly charge for Blu-ray access.

 

Blu-ray now accounts for about 10% of Netflix’ rentals and the company has increased its number of high definition titles by about 60% to more than 1,300 titles over the past six months. 

 

The new, higher prices are mostly caused by the fact that Hollywood studios are charging more for high definition movies, said Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings according to The Los Angeles Times. 

 

Blu-ray renters who no longer wish to pay for this option can remove it from their Netflix accounts before April 27, wrote Jessie Becker, vice president of marketing on the company’s blog. Many Netfix customers could cancel their option for high definition rentals considering the fact that the state of the economy is worsening and every dollar counts. And another thing, Blockbuster does not charge extra for the option, yet.