"Dear Netflix" Is Trending Because of a $6 Price Hike

Poor Netflix has been called a "manipulative greaseball pig" and worse. "Dear Netflix" is a popular topic on Twitter because of a substantial price hike -- from $10 to $16 for one DVD per month and unlimited streaming. Netflix has been overwhelmed with complaints, and at one point, could not handle the call volume (listen to the outgoing message). Apparently, Netflix is trying to kill its expensive DVD business.

In response to Netflix's plan change announcement, more than 11,000 customers within two days have posted comments like this one, which received 922 "Likes."

Netflix comments
Discussion Starters:

  • What is your reaction to the news? Is a 60% price increase reasonable in this case?
  • Could Netflix have handled the announcement differently? What, if anything, could the company have done to make the news more palatable?
  • How could Netflix handle the commentary at this point? If you were Reed Hastings, Jr., the company's CEO, what would you do to try to manage the situation?