The announcement of Netflix cracking down on password-sharing was heavy news for freeloaders since they can no longer watch shows for free, and it looks like they are running out of options as more streaming services want to limit accounts within a household.
Time to Change Your Streaming Account Passwords
It's getting harder and harder for some to be generous with their accounts and passwords as streaming services aim to eradicate password-sharing. Netflix's crackdown was hard to take, and predictably, other streaming services are starting to think it's a good idea.
Family members within the same household won't have to take the news as hard since the password will work on the same house. Unfortunately for your friends with different addresses, they will no longer be able to watch their favorite shows from the three services.
They still have a bit of time to catch up with what they're currency watching since the crackdown will not take effect until March 14th, but after that, Disney will begin restricting your account to your primary household, as reported by Gizmodo.
Strangely, Hulu has a different method of catching accounts that are still active outside of the household. Instead of using IP addresses to determine which devices are out of the primary household, it will analyze the watching habits of users.
It won't go easy on the main holder of the account as well. According to the new terms of service, violating the Agreement will result in limiting or terminating your access to the streaming service, or "other steps" that the company sees fit.
Sharing may be caring, but sharing may also result in you losing your account completely, which means that you'll lose your progress in shows and your list. With that said, you better make sure that users outside your household log out before the crackdown date arrives.
Streaming Services Are Becoming a Pain
Sadly, subscription-based streaming is no longer what it used to be. It was once the cheaper, more accessible, and abundant option as opposed to cable, but now it's just increasing prices on top of the other with no indication of stopping anytime soon.
Back in October 2023, Netflix implemented another price hike, finally putting its monthly fee at $22.99 for the Premium subscription. The Basic plan has gone from $9.99 to $11.99. What's worse is that the streaming giant is also terminating its cheapest ad-free option for new subscribers.
There have been a lot of price hikes since, and the once cheaper cord-cutting option is becoming a heavier burden. Users can no longer afford to have more than one monthly subscription since the prices are just too high.
Disney following suit is no surprise, especially since Netflix boasted of the success of its crackdown efforts, saying that it was effective when it came to adding more subscribers. According to The Verge, it saw a 70% increase quarter over quarter in its ad-tier plan in Q3 2023.
