Shortly after Netflix’s ad-supported tier was officially confirmed, the company Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said that the « vast majority of what people watch on Netflix » will be included with the new $6.99 subscription plan.
Now that the ad tier, officially called « Basic with Ads, » has gone live, we have a better idea of what « vast majority » means, exactly.
Variety has scoured the new plan for titles that are missing (presented in Netflix’s guide with a lock icon, if you’re on the Basic With Ads plan), and found numerous popular shows and movies.
The shows that you’ll have to dish extra money for include Arrested Development, House of Cards, Peaky Blinders, New Girl, The Magicians, The Last Kingdom, The Sinner, Good Girls, The Good Place, and Friday Night Lights. The movies that aren’t on offer on the cheapest plan include Skyfall, 28 Days, The Imitation Game and The Bad Guys.
Several outlets, including Variety, originally said that The Crown and Breaking Bad were among the shows that are unavailable on the new tier, but Variety since amended the article to say that this was not the case.
Netflix said that the missing titles are « due to licensing restrictions » and promised that it’s « working on » a solution.
Netflix’s Basic with Ads plan launched in the U.S. on Nov. 3, and will be available in 12 countries. Besides the U.S., these are Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, and the UK. In most of these countries the new tier will be available on Nov. 10.
Besides the titles that are missing and the ads that are present, other downsides to the new tier include maximum video quality of up to 720p, and no ability to download titles for offline viewing.
