Netflix shares leap as membership climbs

Netflix shares leapt on Monday after the video streaming titan reported that revenue breached a billion dollars atop growing membership and that it plans a bump in new subscription rates. The California based firm saw its shares rise more than six percent to $371.35 in after-market trades that followed release of earnings figures for the first three months of this year. Netflix said it added four million new members to finish the quarter with more than 48 million subscribers around the world. The company reported net income of $53 million on revenue of slightly more than $1.06 billion. Netflix said that its decision to increase new monthly subscription prices in Ireland by one Euro to 7.99 Euros resulted in "limited impact." "Our current view is to do a one or two dollar increase, depending on the country, later this quarter for new members only," Netflix said in an earnings release. The company contended that it has greatly improved its online television and film offerings since it introduced streaming plans four years ago. Existing members would remain at current subscription levels "for a generous time period," according to Netflix. Netflix advised investors in the earnings report that it is opposed to the planned merger of US cable service giants Comcast and Time Warner. "Comcast is already dominant enough to be able to capture unprecedented fees from transit providers and services such as Netflix," the online video streaming service contended. "The combined company would possess even more anti-competitive leverage to charge arbitrary interconnection tolls for access to their customers.