Netflix Hikes Canadian Prices Amid Spending Spree

The U.S. streamer said it needs to bolster its content amid growing competition.

Netflix has hiked its subscription streaming prices to view House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black in Canada.

The U.S. online video giant on Thursday said it needs to bump up its content for Canadians. The move follows CBS All Access earlier this week unveiling plans to come north as new competition.

"From time to time, Netflix plans and pricing are adjusted as we add more exclusive TV shows and movies, introduce new product features and improve the overall Netflix experience, to help members find something great to watch even faster," Netflix said in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter on Thursday.

The price hikes don't impact Netflix's other international markets, where most of its growth comes from these days. But it does arrive as Netflix continues to raise its programming budget with plans to spend $6 billion on content this year.

In Canada, Netflix's standard SVOD plan for content viewing on two screens now rises by one dollar, to $10.99 a month, while the basic plan also jumps a dollar, to $8.99 a month. The premium plan for four household streams and ultra high-definition 4K content jumps two dollars, to $13.99 per month.

Netflix increasing its Canadian prices follows mounting streaming competition here. CBS earlier this week said it will launch a streaming service internationally starting in 2018 with CBS All Access entering the Canadian market. And local broadcaster Bell Media has separate long-term licensing deals with U.S. cable channels Showtime and HBO to raise its game against Netflix Canada by streaming popular shows like Game of Thrones and True Detective on its own streaming service, CraveTV.

Disney's plans, unveiled earlier this week, to end its deal with Netflix and launch its own streaming service won't impact Canada, as Disney movies will remain on Netflix Canada, at least until 2019. Another new global OTT competitor, Amazon Prime Video, also expanded into Canada earlier this year.