By Charlotte Webster-
Netflix will begin its crack down on password sharing imminently, the streaming giant has announced.
The move comes as Netflix announced fewer subscribers than expected in the first three months of the year.
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The streamline giant said it is launching a number of initiatives to boost revenue and retain subscribers, including a tightening of the rules around password sharing.
Under the current rules, Netflix subscribers are told they’re not supposed to share their passwords with people outside their household.
However, users have continued to share their account details to friends and family to save money.
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The plan has already been trialled in parts of the world, but as yet to be rolled out across the UK.
Netflix said the crack down will begin in the United States and other countries in the next three months.
The company’s results statement said: “We learn more with each rollout and we’ve incorporated the latest learnings, which we think will lead to even better results.
“To implement these changes, we shifted out the timing of the broad launch from late Q1 to Q2.
“We are planning on a broad rollout [of the password sharing crackdown], including in the US, in Q2.
“We’re pleased with the most recent launches of paid sharing, and while we could have launched
broadly in Q1 [the first three months of 2023], we found opportunities to improve the experience for members.”
Netflix is also set to end its DVD rental service later this year.
DVD.com has been operated by Netflix for the past 25 years, but the streaming giant announced late yesterday they would be “shipping our final discs” on September 29, 2023.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said the service had “changed the way people watched shows and movies at home” and had paved the way for the shift to streaming.
But he said it was becoming “increasingly difficult” to maintain the service as the “business continues to shrink”.
Mr Sarandos added: “From the beginning, our members loved the choice and control that direct-to-consumer entertainment offered: the wide variety of the titles and the ability to binge watch entire series.
“DVDs also led to our first foray into original programming — with Red Envelope Entertainment titles including Sherrybaby and Zach Galifianakis Live at the Purple Onion.
“We feel so privileged to have been able to share movie nights with our DVD members for so long, so proud of what our employees achieved and excited to continue pleasing entertainment fans for many more decades to come.
“To everyone who ever added a DVD to their queue or waited by the mailbox for a red envelope to arrive: thank you.”
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