Netflix may hike prices after success of password-sharing
Netflix's crackdown on password -sharing likely boosted subscribers by about 6 million in the third quarter and the streaming pioneer is expected to set the stage for price increases when it reports earnings on Wednesday. The only profitable major streamer, Netflix has resisted joining rivals like Walt Disney (DIS.N) in hiking ad-free prices this year and instead curbed password-sharing outside households to tap the more than 100 million viewers who use its service without subscribing. "Netflix now closely resembles a utility in many markets," analysts at Bernstein said. "The challenge of being labeled a utility is how a maturing company continues finding growth." It could hike prices after the end of the Hollywood actors strike, a media report said earlier in October. Five months after calling a strike that plunged Hollywood into turmoil, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) last week approved a new contract with major st...