In a move that can only be described as a coup, at this morning’s CES 2016 keynote by its CEO and Co-founder Reed Hastings, Netflix has announced that its video on demand (VOD)/streaming service is now available 130 more countries, pushing the total up to 190 countries worldwide. Prices for its service here are RM 33, RM 42, and RM 51 for the Basic, Standard, and Premium packages respectively. The Netflix service is available now in Malaysia and users will be able to take it out for a spin for one whole month before starting their subscriptions.
See image below for a description on the packages and what they offer:
Although the company has been around since 1997, offering flat rate DVD-by-mail (and later Blu-ray) in the United States, Netflix only launched its streaming service 10 years later in 2007. Its streaming service expanded to other regions in the years to come, starting from Canada, then in Latin America and the Caribbean, followed by Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, eventually bringing the number of available countries up to 60 by the end of last year. The service is still not available in China but Netflix is working to explore its options to rectify that situation. Even with that phenomenal number of countries that it’s now servicing, Netflix won’t be available in Crimea, North Korea, and Syria because of the restrictions imposed by the U.S. government.
The regions in red below show where Netflix is currently available.
For the complete list of countries that Netflix now supports, please have a look at the ‘Where Netflix is available?’ page.
With the introduction of new countries, Netflix has added Arabic, Korean, as well as Simplified and Traditional Chinese to the 17 languages that it already supports. Hastings added that Netflix will listen, learn, and gradually add more languages, content, and more ways for people to engage with Netflix.
Netflix is probably the undisputed champion when it comes content as it has a vast library, including series (for adults, family, and children), documentaries, and movies, that caters to a wide range of categories. Netflix even produces its own original series which include Marvel’s Daredevil and Jessica Jones, Narcos, Sense8, Orange Is the New Black, and Marco Polo. For this year, the company plans to release even more originals; to the tune of 31 new and returning series, 24 feature films and documentaries, 30 kids series, and a wide range of stand-up comedy specials.
On upcoming content, among those that have already been confirmed include Special Correspondents; a film written and directed by Ricky Gervais with Eric Bana in the lead role. Another is the new one-hour psychological thriller called Gypsy, of which Netflix has ordered a 10-episode season and has been scheduled to arrive in 2017. Netflix has also announced an expansion of their collaboration with DreamWorks Animation (DWA), with a multi-year deal that will see new original series as well as streaming rights to DWA’s feature film library. Two shows that have been announced from the collaboration are Trollhunters by the master of horror Guillermo Del Toro, but even more exciting is the announcement of a reimagining of the classic children’s cartoon Voltron. The last one has certainly caught our attention.
Netflix works on smartphones, tablets, web, Smart TVs, and game consoles. It automatically adjusts the streaming quality according to the internet bandwidth that is available. Netflix even has many titles in HD with Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround sound, as well as in Ultra HD 4K. Each user account gets up to 5 profiles, so that the individuals in the household can have their own watchlist, watch history, and their own respective recommendations from Netflix. The introduction of Netflix will definitely pose a real threat to iflix but the latter will still probably command a bigger following due to its offline feature, the fact that it’s Malaysian, but more importantly because of its price.
The post Netflix is available in over 190 countries —— now in Malaysia too appeared first on TechAttack.my.