The price of watching Netflix went up again this spring, and the increase has done more than annoy subscribers: it has drawn calls for federal regulators to take a look at how much power the streaming leader has over what households pay.
What changed
In its March 26 increase, Netflix raised its standard ad-free plan by $2 to $19.99 a month and its top premium plan by $2 to $26.99, according to TechCrunch. It was the company's second US price rise in less than two years, Variety reported.
Stretch the view back five years and the trend is clear. Since 2020 the monthly bill for Netflix's standard tier has climbed about 29%, and the premium tier about 39%, outpacing the roughly 16% rise in US consumer prices over the same period, per an analysis cited by the watchdog outlet Sludge. For a household, that is a recurring cost quietly ratcheting higher year after year.
Why streamers keep raising prices
The industry's explanation is cost. Producing and licensing shows and films is expensive, and companies say higher subscription fees fund that spending; Netflix framed its increase as a way to keep investing in programming. Rivals have moved the same way, citing pricey content commitments and a broad push to turn streaming into a reliably profitable business rather than a subscriber-growth race.
Two other levers have boosted revenue across the industry: cheaper ad-supported tiers, which bring in advertising dollars on top of subscriptions, and crackdowns on password sharing, which convert freeloaders into paying accounts. The net effect is that the "cheap alternative to cable" pitch of a decade ago has faded. Industry research now finds that a household stacking several services can spend as much as it once did on a cable bundle.
Why critics are calling in Washington
The latest increase turned a consumer gripe into a policy argument. A coalition led by the nonprofit Open Markets Institute has urged the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to open an antitrust investigation into Netflix, arguing the company may hold monopoly power in streaming and asking regulators to weigh action under the Sherman, Clayton or FTC Acts, according to Media Play News. Advocacy groups have run a "Netflix is a Monopoly" campaign to press the point.
Their case rests on the idea of pricing power: Netflix's deep library of exclusive shows, its control of both production and distribution, and its trove of viewer data, they argue, let it raise prices repeatedly without losing many customers. Whether that amounts to an antitrust problem, or simply a strong company in a competitive market, is exactly the kind of question regulators would have to test. Netflix has continued to add subscribers through its recent increases, which critics read as evidence of market power and the company reads as a sign customers value the service.
What it means for your budget
For households, the practical takeaway is smaller and more immediate than any antitrust fight. Streaming costs now behave like other recurring bills: they drift upward, they add up across services, and they are easy to forget. Reviewing which subscriptions you actually watch, rotating in and out of services rather than keeping them all year, and choosing ad-supported tiers where the savings are worth it are the ordinary tools for keeping the total in check. None of that is investment advice; it is just the arithmetic of a bill that, for now, is still heading up.
