US online entertainment powerhouse Netflix announced what it calls significant expansion into Europe on Tuesday, promising viewers in six countries online video by the end of the year.
Already a fixture in parts of northern Europe, the digital television and film streaming star said it would offer monthly subscriptions in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium and Luxembourg.
It did not reveal prices, but a report in French daily Le Figaro indicated that Netflix would be in France by mid-September with a subscription plan of less than 10 euros ($A15) per month.
“Upon launch, broadband users in these countries can subscribe to Netflix and instantly watch a curated selection of Hollywood, local and global TV series and movies,” Netflix said in a release.
Netflix also touted the availability of its growing selection of original programming such as prison comedy drama Orange is the New Black and political thriller House of Cards.
Such shows will be streamed to televisions, tablets, smartphones, video game consoles or computers.
Since it launched its streaming service in 2007, Netflix has become the world’s leading Internet television network, boasting more than 48 million members in more than 40 countries.
Netflix says it streams more than a billion hours, collectively, of digital films and television shows to online viewers each month.
Netflix launched its service in Britain, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden in 2012, and moved into the Netherlands the following year.
The move will let Netflix members access streaming films and television shows using an application on cable service set-top boxes, eliminating the need to rely on other devices such as video game consoles or Roku boxes plugged into televisions.
Use of the Netflix application will be available to cable subscribers whose service includes TiVo DVR boxes.
“Now, watching Netflix is as easy as changing the channel,” Atlantic Broadband CSO David Isenberg said.
While the combined total of such customers at the cable companies is estimated at less than a million people, the deals signal a Netflix strategy that involves making itself part of traditional viewer habits.
AFP
