I remember peeking at my parent’s cable bills and being shocked to find out how much my cartoons and wrestling shows were costing them each month. I knew when it was time for me to move out, I wasn’t going to be able to afford any cable packages.
Around this time in 2010, Netflix took its movie subscription service to the web. After repeated conversations with friends and strangers saying “you gotta try Netflix, it’s so worth it!” I took a gamble on the $7.99 monthly subscription fee and never looked back.
Like most things, that small monthly fee went up over time. Last month, Netflix announced that their premium and standard subscription would go up two dollars. Depending on your plan, it will cost you either $16.50 or $20.99 to view their content in high definition. The hike comes after Netflix announced they lost over half-a-million subscribers in 2021. The internet-streaming giants claim the hike will help produce more original content. Although, some theorized it might have to do with competition and another recent statistic saying that nearly 70 million Netflix users don’t pay for the subscription.
There is a solution, Edmonton Public Library (EPL). Rising subscription prices are turning into the cable package bills we grew to despise. The EPL continues to acquire new releases so patrons won’t be limited to movies or televised box sets of yesteryear. Their app makes it easy to search and place holds on all the items you desire. You might have to wait a day or two while the physical copy is in transit, but what’s wrong with planning for your movie nights? If you find yourself unable to wait, you can also try the library’s on-demand streaming service called Kanopy. Kanopy is available for public libraries and contains thousands of movies ranging from foreign films to history documentaries. And best of all, it’s free to access like everything else at your local library.
