Netflix to increase subscription prices

The streaming video company said Monday that it planned to increase subscription prices for new customers by one or two dollars a month within the next few months. Existing subscribers will be able to continue at their current rate "for a generous time period," Netflix said.

U.S. streaming subscribers currently pay $7.99 a month, a plan introduced back in 2010. The company raised monthly fees for new subscribers in Ireland by one euro back in January, a change that it said had "limited impact."

"If we want to continue to expand, to do more great original content... we have to eventually increase prices a little bit," Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said in a conference call with analysts Monday.

The news came as part of Netflix's first-quarter earnings announcement. Shares surged 6.6% in after-hours trading Monday, after another quarter of strong subscription growth and earnings that came in ahead of analyst expectations.

Netflix added 2.25 million new streaming subscribers in the first three months of the year, just a shade off pace from the fourth quarter of 2013, which was its best in three years. The service now has nearly 36 million subscribers in the U.S. and over 48 million globally.

:story: CNN