Australians may be looking at very affordable Netflix subscriptions as company executives fly to Sydney in an attempt to navigate the hurdles facing the hugely popular content provider’s local expansion.
According to IF, two senior Netflix identities are heading our way in search of local distributors ahead of the online, on-demand streaming service’s expected 2015 Australian launch, with the hopes of working through Foxtel’s tight (and expensive) grip on exclusive movie and television series releases.
IF reports an Australian/New Zealand Netflix subscription will enter the market at an extremely reasonable rate of $10 per month, the same price point as the recently announced Nine Entertainment streaming service, StreamCo.
Netflix is now in a third year of negotiations with Australian content holders, however the hold up and the prioritisation of European markets will result in further delays likely to push back the company’s launch date until the second half of 2015, at the earliest.
An estimated 200,000 Australians already use Netflix, paying international subscription fees and overriding geographic restrictions with the help of specialised software. America’s $7.99US service has 32 million subscribers, or 28 per cent of US households.
iiNet chief regulatory officer Steve Dalby took to Reddit for a Q&A on Tuesday where he stated Foxtel’s grip on exclusive content such as Game Of Thrones, Breaking Bad and Mad Men is coming to an end.
“Foxtel is on borrowed time,” Dalby said. “The reports about the volume of piracy are BS. Sure we love our content that is in our DNA.
“Making content available in a timely, affordable away will go a long way to tapping into the Australian willingness to pay for legitimate content. Let’s face it, if 500,000 Aussies were prepared to pay 447% of the price previously charged by iTunes (for GoT, according to Foxtel) then they will pay.”
