Netflix will spend US$6 billion (AU$8.7 billion) to create original programming for 2016. Chief content officer Ted Sarandos revealed on Sunday that the US on-demand Internet streaming media will have 600 hours of original content for the year.

“We’re going to spend in 2016 about US$5 billion (AU$7.3 billion) on content on a P&L basis, which means about US$6 billion (AU$ 8.7 billion) in cash,” Sarandos was quoted by EW as saying at the Television Critics Association’s press tour in California, US.

“We are running a global network, one that is not easily comparable in business or cultural terms,” he further boasted. “We’re not courting advertisers because we’re not targeting a single demographic.”

If 600 hours of original programming sounds too much, Sarandos begged to differ. In fact, he didn’t think there was “too much TV.” But if it was, somebody else would have to slow down because, as he reiterated, Netflix isn’t slowing down. “…we have big plans for 2016 and beyond.”

His comment was in answer to US cable channel FX’s CEO, John Landgraf, who said at the “Too Much TV” discussion months ago there would be a peak TV in the US in 2016 or 2017, but there would be a decline after.

“I don’t see a collapse, but a contraction,” he was quoted by Deadline as saying. “There is still going to be a lot of TV for the foreseeable future.”

Geo-dodgers beware

Netflix recently announced that it would ban VPN use by subscribers. There are those who use virtual private networks (VPN) to dodge Netflix’s geographical restriction. In Australia, there are people who, instead of subscribing to the local Netflix, use VPN and subscribe to Netflix US, which has more content in its library than Netflix Australia.

“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,” David Fullagar, the vice president of content delivery architecture, wrote on a blog post.

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