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Netflix Arrives Next Month


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Guest The Pom Queen

Netflix is preparing to meet strong competition when it launches in Australia in March.

 

“There are numerous local competitors and a thirst for movies and TV shows from around the world,” CEO Reed Hastings told shareholders in an earnings reviewovernight, in which he confirmed a launch in late March.

 

He says the international expansion strategy is to expand as fast as possible.

 

“Progress has been so strong that we now believe we can complete our global expansion over the next two years, while staying profitable, which is earlier than we expected,” he says.

 

“In Australia we will face strong competition this year, and look forward to getting started later this quarter.”

 

Among the competitors in Australia is Stan, the $100 million Nine Entertainment and Fairfax Media joint venture.

 

Stan, also expected to launch this quarter, has stitched up the Australian exclusive on Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad prequel whose main character is attorney Saul Goodman, played by Bob Odenkirk.

 

 

This blocks Netflix, which has the rights for the US and Canada, from offering the show in Australia.

 

Both are expected to offer their services at around $10 a month for unlimited streaming of their content.

 

What remains unanswered in Netflix’s move to Australia is how it will deal with existing Australian customers who use VPN connections to subscribe to the US product. Netflix has hosed down speculation that it has been trialling ways of stopping people outside the US from accessing the product.

 

Other local competitors to Netflix include the ASX-listed Quickflix, EzyFlix.tv and Foxtel’s Presto.

 

Netflix has also announced it will start streaming the controversial comedy The Interview this month.

 

The film about the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was pulled from movie theatres after Sony recieved threats from hackers but has been available to rent and buy on YouTube, Google Play, and XBox Video.

 

Netflix added 4.33 million subscribers in the last quarter, bringing total subscribers to 57.4 million globally, and expects to add another 4 million this quarter.

 

Net income for the quarter was $83 million, up from $48 million, and revenue $1.48 billion from $1.17 billion a year ago.

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Now that is one of the things not so good about Australia. The number of channels available is really pathetic compared with Europe and the US. Years ago, pre 2000, I remember my Dad had over 120 channels in London- something we can only dream of here.

 

Not on Free to air surely.

 

Foxtel would probably have something similar though.

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I wonder if HULU will be coming as well?

 

But for those of you going to be getting Netflix, you might want to watch Lillyhammer. I think it is one of the best things on there and it is a Netflix series so you can only see it there.

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Mean Girls is so good! They only the Mean Girls 2 on the UK Netflix :'( Sort of think it's a good thing that I don't have access to the US shows or else I'd get hooked on some new series I'm sure!

 

Mean girls is on either free to air or Foxtel. Not sure as I think most American shows are complete drivel and don't watch many. I've seen it on the listings though.

 

I can't understand this push for everything to come in via the internet when they have a perfectly good medium in wireless broadcast. The cost of putting in high speed fibre connections just so people can stream what they want from around the world is astronomical and the tax payer is paying for it.

 

Since the advent of downloading (for free) we've got more stuff to watch that we never get round to, as there isn't enough TV time in the day (for us). We have stuff we've recorded on foxtel from months ago. Won't be rushing out paying for any other service that;s for sure. We aren't massive TV watchers anyway.

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Now that is one of the things not so good about Australia. The number of channels available is really pathetic compared with Europe and the US. Years ago, pre 2000, I remember my Dad had over 120 channels in London- something we can only dream of here.

 

120 channels and still nothing decent to watch.

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I wonder if HULU will be coming as well?

 

But for those of you going to be getting Netflix, you might want to watch Lillyhammer. I think it is one of the best things on there and it is a Netflix series so you can only see it there.

 

It's been on free to air.

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