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Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

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Re: Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

#401
post #113

Netflix will have a positive effect in countries like India. Their entry will help force ISPs to upgrade their infrastructure and increase average speeds. The benefits will hopefully trickle down to all internet users!

Very unlikely. Unless they start offering movies in Indian languages (Hindi, Tamil & Telugu to start with), the amount of traffic will not be high enough to justify ISPs to upgrade.

It already does. I can see a few Hindi titles already.

Re: Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

#402
post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon has a long way to go. As far as I can tell prime or Amazon Fire TV is only available in a few countries. I think they needs to go global quick, or they will not survive against netflix. As it is now, the internet is a rather segregated place. Many media sites are only available in the US. "This is not available in your country". I wonder if a big reason why netflix decided to make original content in the first…

The purpose of Amazon Prime Video is to get you to sign up for Prime and then order stuff on Amazon. It only makes sense for them to be where Amazon actually delivers stuff quickly via Prime. The purpose of Netflix is to provide entertainment. It makes sense for them to be everywhere. I doubt we'll see Amazon PV around the world anytime soon -- it doesn't make sense for them to spend on the global licensing costs sin…

You're correct that prime is mostly about getting people to buy more stuff. But the purpose of prime video (and music) is ALSO to replace Amazons dying (dead?) revenue streams of selling DVDs (and CDs). That was a huge chunk of Amazons business at one point and they correctly recognized that streaming would eventually replace physical media.

Re: Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

#403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe this is exactly right. And all the things that gave networks monopoly power (like spectrum ownership) will become irrelevant. You can mark the day this happens when NetFlix starts offering a daily 'news' update type program. Of course most people see this already, and the extreme tactics around last mile broadband are exactly around this problem. Netflix can't work if their packets can't get to you, and the…

You could imagine a kind of curated UGC for Netflix, where they take News personalities that are already well developed on YouTube and give them a platform to really go global. I for one cannot wait until this happens. The programming they've been putting out lately has been amazing for me.

Just like the airlines auctioning off business upgrades at the gate I read about today, this idea and the news idea are two ideas that are not obvious until you hear them. Cool!

Re: Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

#404

In europe we just get netflix lite, with old and uninteresting stuff sparkled with some original content and random rares. I hope someday we'll get this netflix you all talk about.

That's usually because some local player bought the (online) distribution rights for your country for content from major studios before Netflix moved in. Where I live, Netflix has some children's shows and some local stuff. If I want the same choice as Netflix in the US, I'd have to get subscriptions to half a dozen local online video stores. I expect most of those to go out of business in the next few years, and things to consolidate to just one or two players, one of them being Netflix.

Re: Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

#406

What is missing in a lot of these comments is acknowledging that Netflix may become the largest global "television" network in the world as adoption increases. They have original content lined up and control those rights, and they will continue to expand their reach with that content. Whether they add the "same" streaming content as they have purchased from other providers in the US is not the point here - the big im…

While I'm a Netflix fan and subscriber I find them terrifying. They're clearly the monopoly power in streaming TV and whatever you call the competition that comes from Hulu or traditional cable companies is a joke in comparison. I predict in the future we'll have to break up the Netflix monopoly and require that they sublicense out the content they have license to stream to smaller suppliers much like the way it works for some utilities.

Re: Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

#407

What is missing in a lot of these comments is acknowledging that Netflix may become the largest global "television" network in the world as adoption increases. They have original content lined up and control those rights, and they will continue to expand their reach with that content. Whether they add the "same" streaming content as they have purchased from other providers in the US is not the point here - the big im…

Maybe a stupid questions but what if they disrupted not just TV but also cinema? I assume that the distribution of films around the world is more limited than we think. At some point when Netflix has a much larger subscriber base, it may make more sense for films to be released directly to Netflix for global consumption. They could even be clever about it and have it only open for "live showings" at specific hours or…

Why would they be in better position to disrupt cinema as compared to iTunes, Google Play or YouTube? All of those players have worldwide name recognition and require no immediate upfront membership.

"The Interview" went online directly, and from what I recall the box office results were kinda meh. Of course, we have no access to a parallel Universe where it would've been released through traditional channels, so it could had been a relative success fwiw.

Re: Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

#408

What is missing in a lot of these comments is acknowledging that Netflix may become the largest global "television" network in the world as adoption increases. They have original content lined up and control those rights, and they will continue to expand their reach with that content. Whether they add the "same" streaming content as they have purchased from other providers in the US is not the point here - the big im…

Why is HBO a follower here?

They did original content for as long as they existed, and HBO Now has been available globally for a while now.

Re: Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

#409

What is missing in a lot of these comments is acknowledging that Netflix may become the largest global "television" network in the world as adoption increases. They have original content lined up and control those rights, and they will continue to expand their reach with that content. Whether they add the "same" streaming content as they have purchased from other providers in the US is not the point here - the big im…

I agree with what a lot of people have mentioned, though not focused on: Netflix needs to add sports if they want to really dominate at a global level.

As an example, consider Africa (I'm Kenyan): the Barclays Premiere League is watched in virtually every country, but provided by one company, known as MultiChoice. Because almost everyone wants to watch football, and there is only one option, if they can afford it, they pay.

If Netflix (or some other company) was to obtain the rights to airing the BPL, all the middle-to-upper-class families in Kenya with decent internet connections would immediately consider switching.

Re: Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

#410

What is missing in a lot of these comments is acknowledging that Netflix may become the largest global "television" network in the world as adoption increases. They have original content lined up and control those rights, and they will continue to expand their reach with that content. Whether they add the "same" streaming content as they have purchased from other providers in the US is not the point here - the big im…

Why is HBO a follower here? They did original content for as long as they existed, and HBO Now has been available globally for a while now.

How can I access HBO globally? I see at the bottom of their website "HBO NOW is only accessible in the U.S. and certain U.S. territories where a high-speed broadband connection is available."
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