Netflix users knew this day would come, but that doesn't make it any less painful; Netflix is currently in the process of discontinuing its least expensive ad-free subscription, known as the Basic plan.

The news was first confirmed in January, when Netflix will discontinue the Basic plan in select regions in Q2 2024. Subscribers will see a notice on social media platforms such as Reddit explaining that their Netflix account has been "discontinued" and lamenting that they have until July 13 to "select a new plan to continue watching."

The pop-up notice also appears in the UK and Canada, indicating that the streaming giant is adopting a more gradual phase-out strategy, similar to previous service changes. As of this writing, there have been no reports of U.S. accounts having received the notification.

Netflix subscribers on the basic plan will soon have to choose a new subscription tier if they want to continue accessing the library of movies, TV shows, and mobile games. There are several options currently available, but they all come with either higher fees or a rather serious caveat: advertising.

If ads don't bother you, the cheapest plan is Standard with ads, at $6.99/month. Can't handle those pesky commercials? (I don't blame you; I'm not a fan of the ads.) The cheapest ad-free tier is currently Standard for $15.49 per month, or you can upgrade to Premium, which costs a considerably more expensive $22.99 per month but includes 4K content.

Netflix has not given a clear reason for its decision to discontinue the $11.99/month Basic plan (nor has it commented on when US subscribers will be forced to switch), but our guess is that it is a simple numbers game; Netflix is better positioned to move users to an ad-supported plan, and this move will likely result in many accounts moving to the $6.99 plan or paying a higher monthly fee.

Netflix's ad-free plan has been a huge success, although the company claimed it was "not interested" in an ad tier in 2020, then reconsidered and launched one in 2022. It is the tier of choice for more than 40 million Netflix subscribers, and the 2023 earnings call suggested that ad-supported accounts have more economic value than users who pay more for ad-free.

If you are a subscriber to the Basic plan and have not yet been notified that your subscription is ending, you are lucky, but keep in mind that it is almost a matter of time before you face the same warning. After that, you'll either have to pay more each month or put up with the ads. Neither choice is particularly great.

Netflix's move to discontinue its basic plan is part and parcel of what is happening in the streaming industry as a whole: rising prices.

Paramount Plus recently announced a price increase, and Max also raised the price of its plan. Peacock is implementing price increases to coincide with the Olympics. Disney Plus, Hulu, and Apple TV Plus have all increased their rates over the past year.

Streaming was supposed to save us from cable hell, but instead, if you look at streaming prices in 2024, they are slowly becoming as expensive as cable. If you subscribe to the cheapest (usually ad-supported) plan from one of the eight major streaming services, you will pay $58 per month. This is on top of your Internet bill, since streaming is not possible without Internet.

The days of affordable, blissful, ad-free streaming are certainly over.