Netflix is modeling the worst of Cable TV’s behaviors: jacking your rates again, to as much as as $20 bucks a month. Marty Peers at The Information Briefing notyes the service’s top tier, while still add free is now 42% more expensive than it was in late 2018.

It’s the usual excuse, content costs. But the increase outpaces inflation again. This is what companies do to please Wall Street. It has, in the short term. Netflix stock, which tanked 25%, in part due to a broader market decline, rose 1.25% in the wake of the announcement. The new rates will likely raise revenue by more than a billion bucks annually, a 4% increase year-over-year. What’s different than when I was a cable guy? Competion. Yup, Netflix has some way cool exclusive content. But so does Amazon Prime and Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus. We don’t know how price sensitive consumers are when it comes to streaming services. Marty notes, “the $20 price point is the upper end of what many people are willing to pay for Netflix, according to research done on its customers by ProfitWell, a software firm that works with subscription services.” But Netflix is also copying another page from the Cable TV playbook. They have fall back tiers $10 and $15.50 a month. Expect to get the full court press to stay on a lower tier of you call to disconnect.

Scott Westerman is a former Cable TV Executive and telecommunications consultant