• Netflix is reportedly warning network operators that customers will complain when paid sharing arrives.
• These operators bundle Netflix with their products and the streaming giant is seemingly preparing them for a flood of complaints.
• While Netflix is confident that customers will ultimately pay to share accounts or start their own, it will find out for real next month.

While it may seem that everybody is aware of Netflix’s plans to stop free account sharing given the press the issue has received, that’s not entirely true.

Tough as it may be to think in an age of interconnectivity unlike we’ve ever seen in humanity’s history, some folks don’t keep up with the utterances of big corporations. It also doesn’t help that Netflix doesn’t splash warnings or notices on its own website, leaving customers to discover information themselves.

This may hurt Netflix as it begins implementing paid sharing and it appears to be aware of this.

Citing a report from Financial Times (paywall) Netflix is telling partners to prepare for complaints when the streaming giant launches paid sharing according to Tech Radar. These partners are broadband companies which bundle Netflix with other products

This is going to cause problems for network operators but Netflix thinks that those mooching off of others will ultimately subscribe with their own account.

We aren’t so sure that will be the case. There will surely be some uptake of new accounts and the paid sharing options Netflix is planning but as we’ve seen, paid sharing also results in losses.

In its most recent earnings call, Netflix reported that memberships in Latin America – where it has been testing paid sharing options – fell by 400 000.

However the firm went on to say that following this “cancel reaction” it sees increased uptake of its service. It will be interesting to see if this remains the case when it comes to those using Netflix through partners such as network operators.

We foresee much confusion and anger when folks are told that they’d need to spend more money in order to do something that has, until recently, been free. Confusion and anger that will potentially be directed at the humans manning customer service at telcos rather than the chatbots and canned emails Netflix uses.

Despite the public pushback, Netflix is forging ahead with its plans for paid sharing. While the fee is currently only being presented in a handful of regions, the firm intends to ask subscribers in more countries to pay to share accounts by next month.