Netflix Australia to block geo-dodgers

Netflix, the on-demand Internet streaming media based in the United States, has decided to take stricter measures to block users from other geographic locations to access to its local library. The move is likely to affect a considerable number of Australians who have been using Netflix to watch TV shows and movies online.

The geo-blocking efforts of Netflix come as it attempts to keep out Internet users who manage to secure access to its US library by using a virtual private network, proxies or DNS based “unblockers,” which make it appear as if the user is from the US. Due to certain licensing restrictions, Netflix provides the online streaming services by territory.

The announcement came only a week after it went live globally, except in China.

David Fullagar, the vice-president of the content delivery architecture of Netflix, said that the company is focusing on its goal to make its contents globally available.

“We are making progress in licensing content across the world and, as of last week, now offer the Netflix service in 190 countries, but we have a ways to go before we can offer people the same films and TV series everywhere,” Fullagar wrote in a blog post. “We look forward to offering all of our content everywhere to consumers being able to enjoy all of Netflix without using a proxy. That’s the goal we will keep pushing towards.”

Although resorting to proxies and other means to bypass the geographical barrier is strictly forbidden in Netflix’s terms of use, the practice was recognised as a “major trend” by a Global Web Index study in January 2015. According to the study, 25 percent of adult Internet users surveyed across the world said that they accessed Netflix with proxies and one out of ten of them said they did so as some of its contents were not available in their own country.

Netflix was launched in Australia in March 2015, but with much less content on its offerings. Netflix Australia offers only about 10 percent of the content on Netflix US. Recent figures from FlixSearch showed that while there are 5,760 items on the Netflix US catalogue, its Australian counterpart only lists 2,092 items.

Netflix Australia offers three types of monthly subscription plans for its users. The Standard Definition Plan for $8.99 per month, the High Definition Plan for $11.99 per month and the Ultra High Definition and High Definition plan for $14.99 per month. Netflix US monthly subscription plan starts at US$9.99 (AU$14.40) a month.