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Netflix Teams With LG For 'Prepaid' Streaming Worldwide (engadget.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the watching-everywhere dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced at CES that the service had gone live in 130 additional countries including India, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. He called the expansion "the birth of a global TV network." Partnering with LG, the company hopes to expand its reach by providing prepaid access worldwide. China remains the most notable holdout for the streaming service but Hastings is hopeful saying, "We are continuing to work on that and we are very patient."

8 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. Netflix vs Hulu, Amazon, etc. by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Netflix is available in a lot of countries.

    Hulu and Amazon are only available in a handful of countries and their list doesn't even include Canada.

  2. Don't they own House of Cards? by Torp · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Apparently it's not available in the newly opened 130 countries... or at least in some of them.

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    I apologize for the lack of a signature.
    1. Re:Don't they own House of Cards? by SeaFox · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, that's gonna be the joke here.

      Netflix exists in all these countries. But due to this licensing restriction or that contract, will there be anything to actually watch on it?

    2. Re:Don't they own House of Cards? by Torp · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I haven't started the free trial yet, but the comments of people who did that in Romania are... disappointing.
      Their flagship isn't available, the old movie collection is limited too... 3 titles for each of de Niro, Pacino, and other great actors?

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      I apologize for the lack of a signature.
    3. Re:Don't they own House of Cards? by r1348 · · Score: 2

      Netflix started here in Italy last November, but House of Cards is not part of the catalogue because they already sold broadcasting rights to Sky.

  3. Region Locking Still in Place by Forgefather · · Score: 4, Informative

    For those whoa re wondering about the continued use of region locking, that nonsense will still be in place.

    from http://www.wtoc.com/story/3090...

    "Although Netflix is now virtually worldwide, not of all its entertainment will be available everywhere. For instance, a prized licensing contract that gives Netflix the rights to Walt Disney films after their theatrical release will be limited to the U.S. and Canada as part of a deal negotiated several years ago. Hastings told reporters Wednesday that Netflix is hoping to expand those rights into other countries."

    They are still in negotiations for global rights to all of their content, but being available in many more countries should increase their bargaining power in that endeavor.

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    "There are lies, there are damn lies, and there are statistics"
    1. Re:Region Locking Still in Place by tlhIngan · · Score: 2

      They are still in negotiations for global rights to all of their content, but being available in many more countries should increase their bargaining power in that endeavor.

      Unlikely, actually.

      In fact, being available in more countries will likely result in more difficulty for Netflix - the problem being that the content industry is trying to avoid another Apple.

      For those who don't know, the iTunes music store is wildly successful. So successful in fact that Apple was able to dictate the terms of the agreement to the music companies. The music industry tried and tried and they could not break Apple - Apple sold the most popular players and people were buying up music for that player at an astounding rate. So much so that Apple had all the power - if the record labels disagreed with Apple's terms, Apple said "tough" and didn't carry them. Which basically meant you either ripped it or pirated it.

      Well, the only way the record labels and RIAA could break Apple was to do the nuclear option - DRM free. With that one move, they established Amazon as a viable competitor to Apple, and with this, it meant the labels/RIAA was now back in charge, not Apple. Apple could no longer dictate the terms, because they could simply move their offerings to Amazon. And likewise, Amazon couldn't dictate terms to them either, because then they'd move their offerings to Apple.

      Hollywood saw what' went on, and they know they're not going to allow any one player to become too big or dominant. So Netflix may be big, but Hollywood is going to make it so Netflix won't grow TOO big and be a threat.

      At best, they will help them secure rights from the local distributor.

  4. LG? by jetkust · · Score: 4, Interesting

    OK, I read both articles and I still don't have a clue what LG has to do with any of this. What are they doing again?