Netflix now available in 190 countries around the globe

Jan 6, 2016 21:30 GMT  ·  By

Movie fans rejoice, the much-anticipated Netflix expansion is here, and the company decided to open shop in 130 new countries, but surprisingly not China, for which the company has another market entry strategy prepared.

Back in June 2015, we talked about Alibaba preparing its own Netflix clone. Then we mentioned Netflix' plans for expansion, which had the company slowly extend to new territories a few countries at a time. Back then Netflix was preparing to enter the Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Czech markets, starting with late 2015, early 2016.

A surprise announcement

Surprise, surprise! At CES 2016, in Las Vegas, USA, Netflix's CEO, Reed Hastings, announced that Netflix, effective immediately, will be launching in 130 new countries, almost covering the entire globe. Previously Netflix catered to only 60 countries, mainly in Europe, the Americas, and some Asian countries.

This news is even sweeter, because a day earlier, Mr. Hastings also unveiled a partnership with DreamWorks, which will also add to Netflix' already impressive content distribution portfolio.

And to make things three times sweeter, Netflix also partnered with LG and will start offering 4K HDR content to some countries in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

China remains a problematic market, Netflix CEO remains mum on the subject

As for China, Netflix's CEO declined to answer questions on the topic, but he did confirm that the company plans to follow through plans and expand there as well.

Judging that China has a predilection to complicate the life of foreign businesses inside its borders, there are high chances that the Alibaba clone launches first, and Netflix will be allowed to enter the market and play only second fiddle, just like Google does to Baidu.

Netflix's expansion to a slew of new countries could spell doom for some Internet Service Providers, Netflix having a bad habit of taking over Web traffic, even putting BitTorrent traffic to shame.

In the meantime, don't forget to sign up for Netflix, the company offering a free trial month for all interested users. The full list of countries where Netflix is available can be consulted here.

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