Netflix's latest move may be bad news for those still mooching off their family's accounts.
The video streaming service is looking to charge new prices based on how many people use the account, Bloomberg reported.
The move would make customers pay more depending on which family members use the account, charging on a graded scale of $6.99 to $11.99. Netflix is offering a test version of the plan that lets new customers access the service on as many as four screens, according to an offer posted on the company's website.
"I am sure that they have the ability to monitor device use," Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles, who has an underperform rating on the stock, told Bloomberg. "I admire their resolve to try to combat piracy. This is an ingenious solution."
The pricing plan could be implemented soon for more of Netflix's 40 million-plus subscribers. The company is likely hoping to scale back account sharing while giving users more viewing options. Bloomberg compares the multiple-screen service to cable television operators that rent additional top-set boxes to households.
"We test all the time in an effort to come up with better options for consumers," Jonathan Friedland, a spokesman for Netflix, told Bloomberg in a phone interview Monday. "There are numerous tests at any given time."
Netflix, which charges $7.99 a month for the standard streaming service, announced plans for the pricier, multiple-screen service in April.
The Los Gatos, Calif.-based company had a good year. Netflix almost quadrupled and was the top-performing stock in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index in 2013, according to Bloomberg.
Netflix has also begun testing a $6.99 a month option that streams standard quality video on only one screen, but analysts worry that the lower price will cause consumers to downgrade instead of bringing in more users.
"If $6.99 enables Netflix to reach more consumers than $7.99 that's obviously positive but it's hard to imagine the $1 being a major price inhibitor," Richard Greenfield, an analyst at BTIG LLC who has a neutral rating on the stock, told Bloomberg. "If consumers who would have taken the $7.99 plan now sign up at $6.99, that all comes out of their profit margin. This is not the next pricing move investors were expecting."
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