Stranger Things Season 6 isn’t going to pay for itself.
With U.S. subscriptions slowing down and content costs rising, Netflix (NFLX) – Get Free Report is looking for ways to bolster its bottom line.
With that reality in mind, the streaming service revealed the first details about its plan to stop people from accessing content for free through password sharing.
While the company is still working out plans for the U.S., the FAQ pages for countries currently in the midst of the crackdown — Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru — were updated to say that Netflix accounts will remain sharable, but only within on household, according to Yahoo.
Users will now be required to identify a “primary location” for their accounts and will need to sign into the home wifi of the primary location at least once every 31 days or risk the service being blocked.
Netflix will also use information like IP addresses, device IDs, and account activity to determine whether the sign ins are from the primary location.
If someone signs into the account from a device that is not part of the primary location, or the account is accessed persistently from another location, it will be blocked.
The main account holder will need to verify the device through a temporary code. Once verified, the traveling member can watch Netflix for seven consecutive days.
Netflix Crackdown Plan
Netflix said it is planning to step up its crackdown on password sharing, which has cost the streaming service provider billions in revenue each year.
The company said in a Jan. 19 shareholders letter that it expects to start rolling out paid sharing more broadly later in the first quarter.
“Today’s widespread account sharing (100M plus households) undermines our long-term ability to invest in and improve Netflix, as well as build our businesses,” the company said. “While our terms of use limit use of Netflix to a household, we recognize this is a change from members who share their account more broadly.”
Netflix posted weaker-than-expected fourth quarter earnings, while adding far more subscribers to its expanded streaming platform than Wall Street had forecast.
