As readers of this blog know I wanted to give Netflix a try for three months during the holiday period and had hoped that I could get a bonus offer from PC Optimum, Scene, Air Miles or Rakuten on a Netflix Gift Card. But there wasn’t even an offer from Shell for bonus Air Miles or a discount via Amazon.ca from September 2024 to now, which was quite disappointing.

This is why I just bit the bullet and joined in December, thinking I’d binge watch all of the brand new films and television programs. But not only were the offerings sparse but a price hike was scheduled shortly after I joined. And this is why I chose to end my subscription after less than one month.

Former subscribers can attest that Netflix is far from generous with their discounts now.

There were no discounted appeals to re-join before and none when I was going through the process to end my subscription; Only an offer to pause my subscription for up to 8 weeks. But both Paramount+ and Disney+ offer big discounts to subscribers who have been with them for more than a year, the offers I got being a rate of $9.99 per month for three months for Disney+ and 50% discount on a year’s subscription on Paramount+.

Even Apple TV fans can wait until a season of their favourite show ends before resubscribing to binge watch it it’s entirety, with either 14,000 PC Optimum Points per month or with an Apple Gift Card that’s been discounted or obtained with bonus loyalty points. But where are the incentives?

Yes, I can subscribe to Netflix via Apple TV but I don’t own an Apple TV device, iPad or iPhone. And I would prefer being able to use the Netflix button on my Smart TV or cable box remote, like I had for years.

I think I could set it up to work anyway but this is all moot now – The subscription is canceled and I’m only going to rejoin after the fifth season of Stranger Things is up, for a short period.

I just hope that Wallace & Gromit‘s latest film will be released on blu-ray and not be a Netflix exclusive. I’ve put off buying the previous complications on blu-ray to buy a boxed set and not having “Vengeance Most Foul” on disc would be annoying.

Anyhow, I was once happy with Netflix Canada, for years, but now it’s overpriced and bland, mainly because Hollywood is quite satisfied regurgitating trope collections in lieu of films with imaginary plots and three dimensional characters. And innovation in foreign language television like Dark, Rita, Trapped and Bonus Family has dried up.

They’ll need more than a few documentaries to keep me as a subscriber for more than three months.