Realizing it can charge you pretty much whatever it likes—because what are you gonna do, start reading?—Netflix is quietly preparing to goose its prices up for long-time subscribers. The rate hike—from $7.99 a month to $9.99—actually went into effect for new customers last year, but the service has been holding off on applying the price hike to its more faithful followers, apparently wary of a revolt from customers that don’t have the willpower to turn off their TVs eight episodes into a Cutthroat Kitchen binge.
But now those customers are being “un-grandfathered,” in a process that sadly isn’t just part of the company’s John Stamos-related April Fools Day pranks. The increase will come in May, and will affect about 17 million people—most of whom would have found out about it roughly never, because who spends precious Animaniacs-watching time looking at their Netflix bill?
On the other hand, Business Insider would like to remind you that Netflix is still a way better deal than cable, in terms of shoving endless TV fast food into your endlessly waiting head holes: Even at $9.99, the service offers entertainment at a rate of $0.09 per hour, as opposed to cable’s $0.30. (The math-savvy in the audience will note that that means people are averaging about 4.5 days of TV watching a month, and then distract themselves from that depressing reality by putting on an episode of Better Call Saul.)