Netflix testing fee for accounts shared outside household

(NEXSTAR) – Netflix announced Wednesday it will be testing new features that allow members to add users to an account – with one including a small fee for the subscriber – in the coming weeks.

Netflix said that while features like separate profiles and multiple streams available through its standard and premium plans have been “hugely popular,” they have lead to “confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared.”

Two new features will be rolled out for members in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru that will “enable members who share outside their household to do so easily and securely, while also paying a bit more.”

Users with Netflix’s standard or premium plans will be able to add sub accounts for up to two people living outside their household for $2.99. These Extra Member sub accounts have their own profile, personalized recommendations, login and password.

The second feature, available for all three Netflix plans, allows users who share their account to transfer profile information either to a new account or an Extra Member sub account. By doing this, the user would keep their viewing history, My List, and personalized recommendations.

“We recognize that people have many entertainment choices, so we want to ensure any new features are flexible and useful for members, whose subscriptions fund all our great TV and films,” Chengyi Long, director of product innovation said in a Wednesday blog post. “We’ll be working to understand the utility of these two features for members in these three countries before making changes anywhere else in the world.”

Around this time last year, Netflix began testing a feature to crack down on password sharing. Pop-up messages were sent to those Netflix believed were watching via someone else’s account. The feature was tested last year, but has yet to become a permanent feature, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

It isn’t yet clear if Netflix will be tracking down accounts that are shared with users that aren’t in the same household. Netflix did not immediately return Nexstar’s request for comment.

Earlier this year, Netflix raised monthly subscription prices in the U.S. for all plans in order for the service to “continue to offer a wide variety of quality entertainment options.”