At least in Canada, Netflix has begun another controversial change: according to The Winnipeg Free Press, Netflix is ending its ad-free basic tier. This means that the cheapest ad-free experience will be the standard tier, which costs $16.49 CAD per month ($15.49 in the US).

Although a date has not yet been confirmed, Netflix will phase out the basic option for new subscribers in Canada; only if they cancel Netflix or move to another plan will the regular basic option be permanently unavailable. This means that the only more affordable option for Netflix will be Standard, which is ad-supported and costs $5.99 Canadian.

It is unclear if or when such a move will expand to other regions, but it would be a bit odd to see what the loss of the ad-free Basic tier would be in other parts of the world if Netflix does not see this as a test run. At the time of this writing, however, nothing has been confirmed outside of the Great White North.

However, it is no real surprise that Netflix is taking steps to discontinue the ad-free Basic plan; Netflix hides the ad-free Basic tier upon registration and only shows the ad-supported Standard, Standard and Premium plans by default. If you want Basic, you have to click the little "View All Plans" button at the bottom of the screen; if you want Premium, you have to click the "View All Plans" button at the bottom of the screen.

It is also worth noting that Netflix upgraded the ad-supported tier earlier this year, renaming it "Ad-Supported Standard" and raising the resolution from 720p to 1080p. It is worth noting, however, that despite paying more than half the price of the Standard plan, users of the ad-supported plan are earning more.

Basic is still limited to 720p and costs C$10 (USD) per month, $3 more than Standard with ads. This is a benefit not found in the ad-supported version, probably because it requires an Internet connection to run commercials.

Still, the ratio of resolution to price, the fact that ad-viewing memberships are significantly more valuable, and the knowledge that Netflix is actively hiding this plan from new subscribers made us feel that day was near. Now, that speculation may be correct.

Again, this change has only happened in Canada for the time being, and nothing has been announced about the discontinuation of Netflix's basic plan in the US or elsewhere. But if I were a betting man, I would expect the days of Basic to end in the not-too-distant future, just as Netflix's crackdown on password sharing was tested overseas before reaching the US, UK, and Australia.

Tom's Guide has reached out to Netflix for comment.