Slashdot Mirror
Netflix Now Available In Cuba
aBaldrich writes Streaming video service Netflix will be available to Cuban customers starting today, at the $7.99 U.S. per month rate that it offers in the U.S., the company announced today. It'll still require an international payment method for now, as well as Internet access (which still isn't ubiquitous in [Cuba]), but it's an early start that Netflix says it wanted to offer in order to have it available as Cuban Internet access expands, and debit and credit cards become more available to Cuban citizens.
Until now, Cubans have had little access to this kind of American entertainment. The U.S. government maintains a floating balloon tethered to an island in the Florida Keys that broadcasts the pro-democracy TV Marti network. The Cuban government constantly jams the signal.
"Cuba has great filmmakers and a robust arts culture, and one day we hope to be able to bring their work to our global audience," Reed Hastings, the company's co-founder and chief executive officer, said in the statement.
now that Better Call Saul starts to be available on (some) Netflix!
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
Available to Cubans with access to broadband, and international payment methods.
So, Raul and Fidel?
Do you have any idea how much $7.99/month is to an average Cuban? More than what they make.
I'm afraid the douchiness of NetFlix making this announcement is mind-boggling as it seems so disconnected from reality as to be absurd.
I fear Cuba isn't ready for the influx of crap this kind of thing is going to do to its society. And no matter what the idealists say, you can't magically turn their economy into a modern thing without causing more damage than you fix.
The "free market" as they'll see it will eat them alive, I'm afraid.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
... as their first selection. "Juan Of The Dead" on IMDB
Another ruination of a non-Americanised culture begins, and the homogenisation continues. Great if you like the One True God, but pretty shit if you are interested in pretty much any other option.
Those "pro-democracy" activists who get involved in pirate networks like Marti (N.B. it's "piracy" precisely when a government doesn't like it - just as it would be if I blasted a social-democratic propaganda station from an offshore vessel close to New York, say) do not really represent Cuba, btw. They represent the displaced upper-middle classes of Cuba who benefitted from the serfdom that existed prior to Castro - who, though politicians pretend to forget it, was a significant improvement on what came before.
Yes, there is a wealth of powerful, moving Cuban culture. It exists because Cuba is not another satellite of the USA - yet.
Almost no one in cuba has full internet access. Mostly what they call "internet" is access to some government servers. There is an underground mesh network movement that is really cool but I think it is its own little network not anything you could connect to then stream netflix from. At the moment you're talking about a single digit percentage of the population able to take advantage of this. Probably mostly those in power and their children... yay?
"There are some hard lessons about the dangers of cooperation that are strongly in the memories of these companies," says John Morgan. "Something that makes partnering harder, even when it might make economic sense to do so."
I can only think of Microsoft and its failed partnerships.
If you think that's bad, wait until we deploy the WWE and Nascar apps.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
Honestly this will probably be more effective at spreading democracy to Cuba than the embargo. Slam them with American culture and get paid for it.
Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
A lot of rural regions in the U.S. are not only fairly sparsely populated but also aren't really that much better off economically than Cuba.
Wish I could tell you things are better there... I've noticed an interesting downslide on several social networks in the last few weeks. Perhaps it's time for an "invite only" social network. At least for posting privilages.
As a non-american still not reached by netflix despite living in a very first world country my reaction can only be ohfo'ffuck'ssake!
I hope you understand my frustration.
Note: I assume here they're not counting satellite or dial-up internet as "internet." I assume they meant "broadband capable of Netflix streaming" when they said "internet."
Uhm, no. If the current clique is allowed to rule America for much longer, there will be lean and cautious people talking in hints and reading between the lines on both sides of the straits.
GG Socialism!
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Do they have Internet bandwidth available for this in Cuba?
Seems like this is more of a PR move. Netflix grabs a few headlines courtesy the MSM and Cuba gets Netflix in theory but not in practice.
Support the First Amendment. Read at -1
Please, name 3 regions in the US — rural or otherwise — where the average monthly income is $20. Heck, let's make it $200 — which is ten times, what Cubans earn — because they don't have to pay for that wonderful healthcare of theirs.
You said, there are "a lot" of such regions, so coming up with 3 should be no problem. Thank you.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Yes, in exchange for 100% taxation and not being free to leave (even moving to a different town within Cuba requires police' permission).
Which is precisely the deal, slaves were getting on plantations. The fools weren't happy with that for some reason...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
And are you comparing the purchasing power of that 20$/200$ with the prices in Cuba or the prices in the U.S.A.?
Granted, if Netflix are actually asking 7.99 U.S. dollars per month from Cubans, they'll have a problem. Unless they meant it was for the whole of Cuba? Maybe they'll be able to afford it. Just use the same resolution as a VideoCD but with the compression capabilities of H.264 and that will also solve the bandwidth problem.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
Yay \o/
Another win for democracy?
All good things must come to an end :D
Requiem for the American Dream
You should visit the back woods of Montana or Arkansas some time, it'll enlighten you. Also, we still have "Indian Reservations" and the tribes don't *all* own casinos. Adjust for inflation and lack of demand due to how sparse the population is in some areas and you'll find that its really easy to get out-of-range of modern cable/dsl/fiber internet once you're in a place where the ratio of Deer per square mile is 5x that of humans. I know someone who lived about a mile outside of a town of about 4,000 people who just finally got high-speed DSL LAST YEAR.
Costa Rica has that too
Along with human rights, multiparty democracy and an open internet
I like how the USG has to set up a special TV network just to get a pro-democracy viewpoint on the air.
If only they could get ABC/NBC/CBS to air such content... I suppose they don't transmit in SD any longer and Fox offered but the USG said, "no, we want to promote US culture, not give the Castro regime prima facie evidence against it."
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Dollar is a dollar. Labor-intensive and locally-produced things (like prostitution and cigars) are remarkably cheaper in Cuba, but few people regularly partake of all that. A pound of rice costs the same anywhere, and a TV-set is much cheaper in America.
But, what the heck, let's throw in another adjustment: can you list 3 regions of the US, where average income is below $400 a month? That's 20 times above average Cuban's...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
When you can get plastic surgery done for less than you can in Mexico, and Cuba only ranks 2 points under the US for health care services, and vastly over Mexico, you're going to see a lot of people making the trip for a nip, tuck, and tan, and pumping significant coin into the economy.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Granted, if Netflix are actually asking 7.99 U.S. dollars per month from Cubans, they'll have a problem. Unless they meant it was for the whole of Cuba? Maybe they'll be able to afford it. Just use the same resolution as a VideoCD but with the compression capabilities of H.264 and that will also solve the bandwidth problem.
It's 7.99 for all of Cuba, but approximately 11.7 milliion Cubans will be staring at this message most of the time:
Your Netflix account is in use on another device. Please stop playing on other devices to continue. Visit Netflix.com/help for more information
Dark Reflection
I really hope the "editor" just managed to drop a couple of "as" (one before and one after "ubiquitous"), otherwise I'd have to assume he's got the IQ of a clam....
Why, because they stated a fact? We still have a lot of citizens with no internet access. Most of them are pretty old, granted.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Satellite internet should work fine for Netflix. It's not latency sensitive, and while Satellite is typically not blazingly fast, it works fine at lower speeds, and the dynamic scaling is pretty seamless.
Really? I thought I just enumerated 3 of them, as you requested. Its not like you're gonna be able to find these places on Google Maps. The whole continent isn't a city, bro.
A pound of rice costs the same anywhere
It really doesn't. One kilo of rice costs C$3.67 in Montreal. One kilo of rice costs C$0.98 in Havana. Not everything is cheaper, but many things are.
You can see the direct comparison here:
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-...
You forgot to provide evidence of the average income in each — choosing to talk instead about availability of Internet service there instead. Try again.
I'm not your brother — keep your creepy attempts at fraternization to yourself.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
No sure, what's wrong with Montreal — or the numbeo-site, where you got your numbers — but an American Costco sells a 50-pound bag of rice for $22.69. That's 23kg, or just under $1/kg.
And, of course, you can buy as much as you'd like of it, whereas in Cuba the quantities are limited by the loving and caring government officials.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Another ruination of a non-Americanised culture begins
What will American culture look like when the population is majority Hispanic?brNetflix isn't in Cuba looking for it can sell, it is looking for what it can buy.
First the infrastructure needs to be put in place. This will happen through the wealthier asking to get better internet access. Facilities such as vacation resorts will also invest in said technology to improve their customers experience.
Wealthier? CAPITALIST RUNNING DOG, THIS! IS! COMMUNISM!!!
I thought that the whole point of Communism was that nobody was 'rich' or 'poor'....
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
...
Personally, I think the best way to freedom is to allow people to see what they are missing.
Just watch. The most popular movies will end up being like Rendition and Wag the Dog.
Have gnu, will travel.
It could depend on the brand, the type of rice and where you buy it.
I live in a small town without a Costo so I buy my rice at a grocery store and a 4.54kg bag of Tilda brand, basmati rice costs around 17$CAD, or 3.75$CAD/kg which is basically the same price as in Montreal so Guspaz probably also used a grocery store price.
Keep in mind that some food costs a lot less in the U.S.A. than in Canada, but doing a Canadian grocery store vs U.S.A. Costco price comparison is pointless.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
There are no doubt people with no internet access here. But there are very few, if any, who are without internet access because they just can't get it.
Even my mom, who is in her late 70's and lives out in the boonies, found a way to get enough internet access for her purposes....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
There are no doubt people with no internet access here. But there are very few, if any, who are without internet access because they just can't get it./quote>
True, but there's lots of people who cannot buy internet access suitable for netflix for any reasonable price. Broadband penetration in the USA is pretty poor, to say nothing of penetration of service as good as the FCC has recently mandated "broadband" to be. In terms of land area, there's virtually nowhere you can get 25Mbps down and 3Mbps up without paying professional money.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I'm not your brother —
Yea well I know that but I meant it sarcastically.
You forgot to provide evidence of the average income in each — choosing to talk instead about availability of Internet service there instead.
You can pretend all you want that the fact of the differences in base costs of living and the lack of availability of network infrastructure that is Netflix-capable across the vast majority of the geographic area of the continental USA is as irrelevant to my initial statement and the relative economic status of Cuba vs places in the USA you can only get to after driving for hours down unpaved dirt/gravel roads, but I doubt most the rest of the readers of this now rather tiresome and pedantic thread (though I pity them) will miss your lame attempt at astro-turfing over the actual problem.
I have an Idea! How about you dig up the wikipedia page and do the math yourself for the adjustments for inflation and commodities costs and subtract stuff paid for implicitly by their socialized health care and food and housing systems? Also, maybe get a second opinion on that 20$ figure; Fox News isn't really known for their super accurate accounting of facts on numbers like this. I heard somewhere that the actual number for Cuban monthly household incomes is over 20 times what you cited.
It's not a valid comparison to compare the price of 1kg of rice to the bulk price...
For example, looking at WalMart Canada, they'll sell you 8kg of rice for C$1.06 per kilo, or they'll sell you 900g for C$2.52 per kilo.
Of course, the 900g price is decently lower than the prices that Numbeo is quoting, but the basic premise holds true: food has different prices in different places. For one thing, the ability and willingness of people to pay more can drive prices up. For another thing, the cost of transport can too. And I can tell you that people in a country with a per-capita GDP of $6,985 are probably not willing to pay as much for stuff as people in a country with a per-capita GDP of $50,577.
No, sonny, that's not, how it works. You make a statement — you supply substantiation. Best is to do that in advance. Absolutely must do it, when requested. Several replies later, you still don't offer the substantiation. It is perfectly logical to conclude, it does not exist.
Citation needed. NBC would be fine.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
in order to response to increased demand. Surely the many bartending engineers can devise a scheme.
While we're on the subject, I know Electrical Engineers doing entry level support ( the IT equivalent of waiting tables ) because offshoring has killed their jobs and they're not mobile (own houses/have kids/etc). The Cuban embargo and the global race to the bottom has probably done more to kill those engineer's careers than Castro ever did.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
50 pounds is hardly "bulk". Costco's price is what the food costs. Everything extra you pay on top of that is for the fancy convenience of small portions, not waiting in line, etc.
Perhaps. But Costco is for people, who seek a no-frills bargain. That they are able to find it shows, rice does cost about the same in US as in Cuba.
Now, how about you — instead of quibbling over food prices — do come up with the requested list of US regions, where salaries are below $400/month?
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
This is a prime example of American soft power in action. From Hollywood, to Netflix, to Wall Street, to McDonalds, the American culture machine is perhaps the strongest soft power force in world history.
This is one of the primary reasons the embargo should have been lifted a long time ago. American hard power (military, government loans, etc) has always been the go-to strategy for dealing with issues, but they often forget the might of American culture and business.
Why saber rattle at authoritarian leaders when instead you can undermine them from the bottom up? This is the same reason why China fears the free flow of information on the internet.
Well, far be it for me to pull your head out of the sand. For some reason you seem really defensive about this, like the truth would shatter your fragile grasp on reality. I suggest not turning on the TV to something other than fox news...