Take Canada, in which Netflix has operated longer than any country besides the United States. Canadians, says Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, harbor constant insecurities about the depth of the streaming catalog in their country, despite having access to several titles—Star Wars: The Force Awakens soon among them—unavailable to its southerly neighbors. In France, meanwhile, laws designed to protect theaters prevent the streaming of any movie within three years (yes, years) of its theatrical release. As such, it will be the only country denied access to The Big Short when Netflix starts streaming it this summer. And that’s just two countries.

“It may not sound like much, but multiply each unique exception across 200 markets, and it quickly becomes a major challenge,” says Brett Sappington, director of research at Parks Associates.

From the article "Netflix’s Grand, Daring, Maybe Crazy Plan to Conquer the World" by Brian Barrett.

Next: Cable Boxes Suck. One Day They’ll Die. Until Then We Have to Fix Them.
Previous: The FCC’s War to Liberate Your Cable Box

Be the first to leave a comment.

Have a comment? Login or create an account to start a discussion.