Netflix to Launch in Australia, Village Roadshow CEO Claims
Netflix is definitely coming to Australia, according to Village Roadshow CEO Graham Burke. The only question is when.
The film production company, which distributes films in Australia, has confirmed that the U.S. on-demand Internet streaming media is in negotiations to launch in Australia.
“[On] Netflix, they’re talking to our people about supply of products, so they are opening and coming to Australia,” Burke told ZDNet.
The CEO did not say when the streaming company will arrive Down Under, though.
His comment comes weeks after the on-off rumours of Netflix’s arrival in the country.
The report of Netflix’s supposed launch has been around for months, though it has been intensified in May when The Australian claimed that the company was planning to occupy the Aussie market within the next 12 months.
And just in case that Netflix was really considering doing that, local networks have made deals with other telco and digital TV companies to offer streaming services as well.
However, Netflix has quickly doused Aussies’ hope that they would be able to subscribe from the company any time soon.
“No current plans to launch in Australia,” a spokesperson from the company told Gizmodo. “We do want to be global, so one day we should be there, but we have no current Australia launch schedule.”
As for the recent comment by Burke, Netflix chief financial officer David Wells said that it’s unlikely to happen now.
The online streaming giant’s current priority is its expansion in Europe, which means that its launch in the Australian market is not yet in its horizon.
Wells told Australian Financial Review that “before we launch another substantial expansion, that we’re pretty confident in our existing performance in the markets we have today.”
In the U.S., Netflix is available to subscribers for U$7.99 per month. And while Australians aren’t able to watch its products, there are some people who are able to bypass geoblocks to subscribe to the service using VPN (virtual private network).