Netflix just axed its basic ad-free plan in the US and UK

If you’re already subscribed to the basic plan, you can keep the subscription as long as you don’t cancel it or change plans. But if you were looking to downgrade your Netflix subscription to a cheaper ad-free plan, you’re out of luck. With this change, Netflix now only offers a $6.99 (£4.99) / month ad-supported tier, the $15.49 (£10.99) / month standard plan, and the $19.99 (£15.99) / month premium plan.

The $9.99 / month basic tier served as a middle ground between Netflix’s more expensive ad-free tiers and its ad-supported plan, letting you stream in HD on only one device at a time. It’s still not clear when Netflix made this change or if it plans on doing the same in more countries. The company didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for more information.

Unfortunately, the writing was on the wall for Netflix’s basic plan when it silently removed it in Canada. In the US and UK, Netflix also started hiding the basic plan when new users signed up to the platform, requiring them to click a “see all plans” button for it to appear as an option alongside its other plans. The basic plan also didn’t let you add an extra member to your account as part of its paid sharing policy.

Netflix is set to report its earnings this afternoon, so we probably won’t have to wait long to hear more about this decision.