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Netflix Outage Affects Millions of Users

December 12, 2023

Netflix users needed help streaming their favorite shows on Dec. 11. The culprit of this pause was identified by an error message “tvq-pb-101,” which started at around 5 p.m. EST and was resolved at about 8 p.m. EST. 

However, the issue wasn’t widespread. Some users nationwide could stream the channel fine, while others were met with the error message. Netflix’s status page failed to note the issues for several hours before updating.

Outage tracking website Downdetector.com, which tracks outages by collecting status reports from users, showed Netflix outages counting upwards of 17,000 across the country. Downdetector reports incidents when the number of problems recorded is significantly higher than the typical volume for that time of day. 

During the outage, a Netflix rep said to Variety, “We’re very sorry, but we’re having unexpected technical issues with Netflix for some members. Our engineers are working to fix this as quickly as possible and will share updates.”

Early in 2023, Netflix’s livestream of the reunion of the dating show “Love Is Blind” experienced significant delays. The culprit turned out to be a glitch in its system introduced after its engineering team made performance tweaks.

On Oct. 18, 2023, Netflix increased the cost of its most expensive plan in the U.S. by $3 to $23 and its basic plan by $2 to $12 while keeping two other plans the same. 

According to Variety, Netflix sent a letter to shareholders, which accompanied its Q3 financial results, that said, “While we mostly paused price increases as we rolled out paid sharing, our overall approach remains the same — a range of prices and plans to meet a wide range of needs, and as we deliver more value to our members, we occasionally ask them to pay a bit more.” 

Netflix maintains that its monthly plans still come under the cost of a one-time movie theater ticket.

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