Netflix CEO and co-founder Reed Hastings made a big announcement at his Wednesday morning keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Hastings revealed that the online streaming platform is now available for viewers around the world.
“Today you are witnessing the birth of a new global Internet TV network,” said Hastings. “With this launch, consumers around the world -- from Singapore to St. Petersburg, from San Francisco to Sao Paulo -- will be able to enjoy TV shows and movies simultaneously -- no more waiting. With the help of the Internet, we are putting power in consumers’ hands to watch whenever, wherever and on whatever device.”
Previously, Netflix was available to users living in specific regions of the world like the United States, Australia, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Japan. Netflix subscribers who travelled often found themselves prohibited from viewing content from other countries.
With the Netflix CES 2016 announcement, the online streaming platform will be available in almost every country. “The Internet is a beautiful thing because it’s naturally global,” said Hastings at CES.
… Netflix is now global. #NetflixEverywhere
— Netflix US (@netflix) January 6, 2016Not all the content will be available for everyone, says Hastings, due to content restrictions that vary from nation to nation. The original Netflix content will be available worldwide while other content may be limited. “Unfortunately we still got territorial licensing — that’s a legacy of the last seven or eight years,” said Hastings. “We are moving as quickly as we can to have global availability of all the content on Netflix.”
What’s next? According to Hastings, the work has just begun in order to make Netflix a household name worldwide. “Today’s launch is like having a baby,” said Hastings. “It’s a big deal but the real work is the next 20 years. Real work is to become as popular in Vietnam, Thailand, and Brazil as we are in the U.S.; to really build out the global content.”
