The pay-TV window is a shrinking asset for the studios right now because the legacy distributors — HBO/Show/Starz — are putting more money into originals. They’re not going to pay what they used to for movie rights in the old pay-TV window. Netflix had competitive reasons for buying its way into that window with Disney but it probably shot its bolt with that deal. Thus, Disney managed to get a richer deal in the pay-TV window than it would have by renewing with Starz, or by going with one of Starz’ direct competitors. But that rich deal probably isn’t available to any other studio now since Netflix can’t afford it and no Netflix competitor currently has the reach to justify it. In a sense, first-mover advantage goes to Disney.

As for why the $8 price point is sacred, or why a premium tier is a non-starter, I think Netflix has just made a strategic decision not to recreate the cable business model. It’s marketing itself right now as an adjunct to cable service, which is already expensive and getting more so. Netflix believes, probably correctly, that it is fairly constrained in what it can do pricing wise right now.

Also, If Netflix starts paying higher licensing fees on the theory that it can put that content in a higher-priced tier, every programmer is going to demand high fee/premium tier treatment. Not only would that lead to higher content costs overall but it would screw with Netflix’s basic business model.

I don’t understand why $8 has to be a sacred price, and why creating a different tier (while keeping the $8 basic tier) would be a problem.

Maybe I am missing something?

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-12-05/business/chi-netflix-promises-not-to-raise-prices-for-disney-films-20121205_1_live-action-and-animation-studios-sarandos-new-star-wars-movies