Technologies
How Netflix Can Calm the Password-Sharing Outcry
Commentary: We have a quick solution for Netflix’s password sharing woes…
Your mom lives in Ohio. You live in New York but you share a Netflix account. The same is true for the family whose kids are in college and for the couple living apart while one’s stationed on a military base overseas.
I see your stories. I feel you. I’ve been in the same boat.
People are not happy about Netflix’s move to start charging members extra fees to share accounts. The company’s been called out for a 5-year-old tweet: «Love is sharing a password.»
Even the card game Uno joined the Twitter roast to point out the about-face. Swarms of vocal Netflix subscribers are venting on social media — Netflix’s comment sections are really feeling the burn — and vowing to cancel their accounts and questioning why they’re paying for multiple screens.
Netflix has dubbed viewers outside of the primary household as extra members, or subaccounts. In Canada, where the prices are $16.50 for a standard plan and $21 for premium, the cost of adding an extra member is $8 per person. If a single streaming service costing $30 a month to stream on two or four screens sounds like a lot to you, I agree.
In the US, we still don’t know how much it’ll cost each month for extra members. When Netflix finally decides to tell us, I think it should also announce a couple of smart discounts.
Netflix needs a cheaper plan for students
Among those who are unhappy about the new policy are parents and their college kids. If Netflix insists on charging for password sharing, I think it should offer a no-frills student subscription.
College kids love to stream, and they’re often doing it on their parents’ accounts. Not as freeloaders, but as members of the household — even if their school is five states away. When we drop our 17- or 18-year-olds off at college, I bet no one is saying, «Time for me to kick you off Netflix, ya mooch.»
Rather than blocking kids who are attending school far from home, Netflix should offer a student plan that’s priced lower than its basic ad-supported subscription. Hulu, Paramount Plus and Spotify do it, proving that a blueprint exists.
All three platforms use SheerID to verify eligibility for college and university students. Hulu charges eligible students $2 a month for its ad-based plan. Spotify’s Premium Student subscription is $5 per month with the first month free and the added perk of free access to Showtime and Hulu with ads. Paramount Plus provides a 25% discount on its Essential plan for college students that lasts for four years, even if they graduate early.
If Netflix followed suit, it could find the sweet spot between $2 and $5 a month to help a broke college kid out. The company rolled out its $7 ad-based tier in January, joining the ranks of Hulu, HBO Max, Peacock and others who conquered that frontier. Adding a new subscription option aimed at students is reasonably within Netflix’s capabilities. If the streamer wants to keep its subscriber numbers up, why not?
Read more: Best Streaming Service Deals on Disney Plus, Hulu and More
Members of the military should get a discount too
Along with students who spend months — or years — away from home are service members. It’s common for a loved one to be stationed abroad while sharing a single Netflix account with family in their home country or state. Rather than geo-blocking them, or tagging on account-sharing fees, why not offer a military rate for active-duty members? It’s something that streaming services like Disney Plus, Apple TV and Discovery Plus offer for customers.
Why is Netflix charging fees for subaccounts?
For Netflix, everyone has to pay to hit play, specifically if you’re not living under the same roof. From a business perspective, the company wants to tap into opportunities to make money on shared accounts. Meant to fund content creation and overall operations, it was discussed during the company’s first-quarter earnings call in 2022. «Another focus is how best to monetize sharing — the 100M+ households using another household’s account,» the streamer wrote in its letter to shareholders. According to Netflix, more than 30 million of those who believe sharing is caring live in the US and Canada.
The extra costs are currently active in countries including Canada, Spain, New Zealand and Portugal. In some regions, the added fees also come with added steps, like verifying your device is connected to your primary location or sending invites to extra members to use your account.
I like Netflix, but none of the other major streamers is doing this. And as Fox 9 TV host Jason Matheson points out, it’s mighty inconvenient.
Netflix could lose out to the competition
With such a crowded streaming service market, every price hike, add-on fee and inconvenience can make one platform less of a necessity. Netflix is aware that though it was a pioneer in this space, there are rivals that want to be on top. Long ago, it edged out Blockbuster, showing how a business model can make or break a company’s survival.
Let’s not forget that content availability plays a huge role too, because if there’s nothing to watch to justify the monthly rate you’re paying, it’s time to drop something. We rotate our streaming services to save money or if we’ve run out of stuff to stream. If the extra cost is too high, especially in the US, Netflix should expect customers to churn for months at a time. That’s not to say services like HBO Max and Disney Plus are immune to being dropped, because they’ve had to contend with frustrated customers over price increases and show cancellations too.
However, the cost of password-sharing fees may be too high. Only time will tell if this new setup is worth it to Netflix, but it’s going to be an uphill battle to get customers around the world on board. One discount plan could help cushion the blow.
Netflix did not respond to a request for comment.
Technologies
Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Monday, Feb. 2
Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Feb. 2
Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? There are some tough clues today. Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.
If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword
Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.
Mini across clues and answers
1A clue: Rock band with albums like «High Voltage» and «Flick of the Switch»
Answer: ACDC
5A clue: Stuck doing the same old, same old
Answer: INARUT
7A clue: Burning up
Answer: ONFIRE
8A clue: -tion, for one
Answer: SUFFIX
9A clue: Jared of 2025’s «Tron: Ares»
Answer: LETO
Mini down clues and answers
1D clue: Declare void, as a marriage
Answer: ANNUL
2D clue: ___ macchiato (espresso drink)
Answer: CAFFE
3D clue: Begin to veer off the road, say
Answer: DRIFT
4D clue: Odd little trinket
Answer: CURIO
5D clue: What Apple smartphones run on
Answer: IOS
6D clue: ___-Mex cuisine
Answer: TEX
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Technologies
Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Feb. 2, #497
Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Feb. 2, No. 497.
Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. It helps to know a lot about two distinct locations and their sports teams. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.
Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.
Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta
Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Lone Star State.
Green group hint: Think of the Arch.
Blue group hint: You put cereal in this.
Purple group hint: Not four or six.
Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Yellow group: Texas college teams.
Green group: St. Louis teams.
Blue group: Can be followed by «bowl.»
Purple group: ____ five.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is Texas college teams. The four answers are Aggies, Cougars, Horned Frogs and Longhorns.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is St. Louis teams. The four answers are Billikens, Vlues, Cardinals and St. Louis City.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is can be followed by «bowl.» The four answers are pro, senior, shrine and super.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is ____ five. The four answers are fab, fierce, high and starting.
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Technologies
Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Feb. 2, #967
Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Feb. 2 #967
Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.
Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is a fun one for fans of Agatha Christie, as the last name of one of her detectives shows up in the grid. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.
The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.
Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time
Hints for today’s Connections groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Time.
Green group hint: Need to get in.
Blue group hint: Characters in a certain genre of books.
Purple group hint: They grow in the forest, sometimes, but there’s a twist.
Answers for today’s Connections groups
Yellow group: Duration.
Green group: Credentials for entry.
Blue group: Modern crime series protagonists.
Purple group: Trees plus a letter.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections answers?
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is duration. The four answers are interval, period, span and stretch.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is credentials for entry. The four answers are lanyard, pass, stamp and wristband.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is modern crime series protagonists. The four answers are Bosch, Cross, Reacher and Ryan.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is trees plus a letter. The four answers are fair (fir), Marple (maple), popular (poplar) and psalm (palm).
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