Netflix hikes prices as its lead widens over other streaming services

NEW YORK, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Netflix, the American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service, has raised its prices after gaining a record 41 million new subscribers last year.

The world's largest streaming service said on Tuesday it had raised subscription rates across most plans in the United States, Canada, Portugal and Argentina. For U.S. users, Netflix's ad-supported plan increased from 6.99 U.S. dollars to 7.99 dollars monthly, while a standard subscription has increased from 15.49 dollars to 17.99 dollars.