They've talked about doing it before, and it's likely to tick-off a certain percentage of their overall subscriber base, but it really seems like Netflix is very serious this time about putting a stop to password-sharing, and replacing it with something called "extra member sub-accounts."

Illinois residents who take part in password sharing, if they haven't already been told about this, should be getting the message from the video-streaming site very soon.

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Last Year, Netflix Decided To Really Get Serious About Stopping Password-Sharing After The Company Suffered Its Worst Subscriber Losses In Almost Ten Years

I imagine that the conversation in the Netflix conference room went something like this:

Guy in charge of giving bad news: "We've just experienced our worst loss of subscribers in nearly a decade."

Guy in charge: "Well, at least we stopped people from sharing user names and passwords, so we've got that going for us."

Guy in charge of giving bad news: "Yeah...about that..."

Guy in charge: "Wait. What?"

Obviously, this is just a dramatization. There was probably a lot more swearing taking place during the real discussion.

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Netflix's Changes Will Be Taking Place Over The Next Couple Of Months, So Don't Be Surprised If They Suggest Some Changes To Your Netflix Subscription Very Soon

Those changes will start with charging accounts for password sharing, and instituting a system that adds fees for "extra member" sub-accounts when people who live outside the subscribing house use the membership.

As far as costs go, Netflix hasn't offered up the specifics yet, but if it's anything like the fee system that was recently tested in Peru, Costa Rica, and Chile, the extra-member sub accounts should cost around a quarter of what a regular membership runs.

Here in Illinois, and throughout the United States, that would mean anywhere from an extra $3.50 to about $5 a month extra, depending on how many sub accounts you want and/or need.

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Finally, Let's Get To When You Can Expect These Changes To Be Implemented To Your Netflix Account (I'm assuming you have one, otherwise why would you still be reading this?)

Netflix seems to have all the wheels ready to go into motion on these changes, according to a piece at CNET.com:

Netflix said Thursday that it will start start launching the account-sharing fees beyond its test countries before the end of March and that a full, global rollout will take a couple quarters. The company also said the rollout would be progressive across its markets: Netflix won't starting charging everyone globally at the same time like flipping a switch but instead will start in a selection of places and go from there.

It hasn't specified which countries will be first nor exactly how long the new fees will take to fully launch worldwide.

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