Citing higher retail and wholesale prices, Netflix plans to implement a "modest monthly premium" for access to Blu-ray titles some time this year.

As confirmed through transcripts of Netflix's first quarter earnings call, President and CEO Reed Hastings made the announcement during the conference call yesterday.

"Purchasing Blu-ray DVDs costs more both at retail and wholesale than standard definition DVDs, and consumers are used to paying more for high-definition content in every other channel, including video rental stores, video-on-demand, and cable channels," Hastings stated.

"Because of the higher cost of Blu-ray and the consumer expectations around high-def content, we are planning on implementing a modest monthly premium for access to Blu-ray some time this year."

No information was provided regarding a timeline for the price increase or the amount that might be charged.