By A Correspondent
In the glam town of Las Vegas, at the consumer electronics show CES 2016, Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings announced its famed service to more than 130 new countries around the world. Including India.
“Today you are witnessing the birth of a new global Internet TV network,†said Hastings. “With this launch, consumers around the world — from Singapore to St. Petersburg, from San Francisco to Sao Paulo — will be able to enjoy TV shows and movies simultaneously — no more waiting. With the help of the Internet, we are putting power in consumers’ hands to watch whenever, wherever and on whatever device.â€
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No comments on Indian partners: Netflix For one of the world’s most iconic media and entertainment companies, Netflix is curiously shy of the media. So when we asked the major’s media partners for an interview, we did receive near-instant responses except for to a question on marketing plan and possible premieres for India, but the attribution was to Netflix, no person. We’re publishing the responses as is, and as you’ll figure, there’s hardly any information given out. Guess for Netflix it’s the content that’ll do the talking. Read on….
Is there an Indian partner?
We would be unable to comment on private discussions with local partners. Any announcements will be shared with you and available at media.netflix.com.
Can you name people in the senior leadership team in India?
Netflix is based in Silicon Valley (Los Gatos, Calif.) where product development and engineering is the focus. The company’s second largest office is in Hollywood (Beverly Hills, Calif.) where the content development teams are located. In Europe, Netflix is headquartered in Amsterdam and in Asia, Netflix has an office in Japan and is planning its regional headquarters in Singapore.
How many Indian movies? Right now one finds only Hindi movies? I couldn’t find any Tamil movies. What languages do we have?
There is a limited amount of local content available at launch in some countries. We will add more as the service grows in popularity and we better understand what our members want to watch in each region.
What’s the library for all movies and TV shows? Number of hours is given, but can you give numbers of movies and TV shows, stand-up acts etc?
We don’t publish a number of titles because our offering is always expanding and changing. In 2016 we plan to spend about US$5B on programming rights, including many titles that will be exclusive to Netflix around the world. That includes more than 30 new Netflix original series (or seasons of existing series.) Most of these will be available to our members everywhere, exclusively on Netflix. That’s more than one full new season of a series every other week. In addition, we’re expanding our original film initiative, launching more than 10 films exclusively on Netflix in 2016. We also are adding more kids programming and documentaries.
Any tie-ups with Indian film studios/companies?
We would be unable to comment on private discussions with local partners. Any announcements will be shared with you and available at media.netflix.com.
Are these films for India distribution or global?
We’re working toward being able to offer a fully global service with a global catalog. Examples of titles Netflix has licensed, largely on a global basis include How To Get Away With Murder, Gotham, Jane the Virgin, Zoo and Breaking Bad. We still have territorial licensing, that’s a legacy from the last 7 or 8 years. We’re moving as quickly as we can to have global availability of all the content on Netflix so that there are not regional distinctions. We’re still somewhat a prisoner of the current distribution architecture, we’re trying really hard to get there.
What’s the target for number of subscribers by end of 2016? We provide international member guidance and segment reporting on a quarterly basis with earnings announcements. Netflix ended Q315 with nearly 26M international members.
Do we see any Indian language interface? Because that’s where the real growth will happen in India?
Only English will be available in India for now. We haven’t made any decisions about what India-based languages will be added in the future. As we gather member feedback and better understand usage patterns, we will make decisions about what languages to add.
Broadband speeds are still slow, even though the promise of 4G exists? Are you looking at any tie-ups with ISPs for cheaper bandwidth? Netflix automatically adapts the data rate of the video stream to meet the bandwidth available to the member at any point in time. The minimum required broadband connection speed for standard definition is 0.5 Megabits per second.
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For one monthly price, members around the world will be able to enjoy Netflix original series including Marvel’s Daredevil and Marvel’s Jessica Jones, Narcos, Sense8, Grace and Frankie, and Marco Polo, as well as a catalogue of licensed TV shows and movies. And some interesting Bollywood films too!
In 2016, the company plans to release 31 new and returning original series, two dozen original feature films and documentaries, a wide range of stand-up comedy specials and 30 original kids series — available at the same time to members everywhere.
“From today onwards, we will listen and we will learn, gradually adding more languages, more content and more ways for people to engage with Netflix,†said Hastings. “We’re looking  forward to bringing great stories from all over the world to people all over the world.â€
Netflix will not yet be available in China, though the company continues to explore options for providing the service. It also won’t be available in Crimea, North Korea and Syria due to U.S. government restrictions on American companies.
Said Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos who was also at CES 2016: With the Internet, global distribution no longer needs to be fragmented. It means that everyone pretty much everywhere should be able to see great films or TV shows at the exact same moment. The technology is there. It’s business models that now stand in the way. Great stories come from everywhere. We’re now working with local storytellers right now…
Since Netflix launched its streaming service in 2007, the service has expanded globally, first to Canada, then to Latin America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan to include 60 countries.
Netflix is available on virtually any device that has an Internet connection, including personal computers, tablets, smartphones, Smart TVs and game consoles, and automatically provides the best possible streaming quality based on available bandwidth. Many titles, including Netflix original series and films, are available in high-definition with Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround sound and some in Ultra HD 4K. Advanced recommendation technologies with up to five user profiles help members discover entertainment they’ll love.
The month’s free trial ends on February 7, 2016. There are three tiers – Basic at Rs 500, Standard at Rs 650 and Premium at Rs 800. The Premium offers Ultra HD, Standard only HD, and Basic doesn’t offer HD or Ultra HD, just the standard definition. One can watch unlimited movies on the regular TV set, laptops, tablets and phones. While Premium allows for viewing on four screens, Basic and Standard are for one and two screens respectively.