Announced last week, Apple’s new policies for subscription billing appear to have raised the hackles of publishers more than it’s made them happy -- and questions remain as to exactly who is going to have to use the option in the first place.

Business Insider is reporting that at least one major media company appears to have skirted the requirement for subscription billing, according to a source familiar with the situation. Netflix, the former DVD by mail giant who appears to now be primarily a streaming service, apparently won’t be subjected to Apple’s 30 percent fee for subscriptions via an in-app purchase.

“In other words, Netflix would have had to give its users an option to sign up for a Netflix account inside its iOS apps,” the report revealed. “If the user took that option, Apple would collect 30 percent of the sale, which is clearly not something Netflix wants.”

Apple has yet to clarify what exactly a “subscription” means in this case -- is the new policy strictly aimed at publishers of newspapers and magazines, or does it extend to e-books such as Amazon Kindle (which are purchased one at a time anyway) and streaming services with monthly fees, such as Hulu Plus and Netflix?

Given that Netflix now has a $7.99 per month streaming-only plan, Apple’s new policy would require the company to give up $2.40 of that money each month, assuming the customer signed up through the Netflix app. But what happens if the subscriber decides to switch from an iOS device and watch exclusively on a streaming-enabled television or other device?

It appears that Netflix and others may dodge this bullet, but we’ll all know for sure by June -- that’s when Apple is requiring developers to add in-app subscription billing or have their app potentially removed from the store.

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(Image courtesy of Business Insider)