LAS VEGAS – Netflix announced at the Consumer Electronics Show that it’s launching its service globally, bringing its brand of Internet TV and movies to more than 130 new countries around the world.
“Today you are witnessing the birth of a new global Internet TV network,” said CEO Reed Hastings, in a bit of over-the-top hubris during his Wednesday morning keynote. “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.”
It’s hard to think of Netflix as a TV network as Hastings claims, since it has no ability or stated plans to offer or cover live events.
While largely available in English in most new countries, Netflix today added Arabic, Korean, Simplified and Traditional Chinese to the 17 languages it already supports.
“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.”
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.
Netflix began the fourth quarter with 69 million subscribers compared to the previous year's 53 million, a group that collectively watched 8.25 billion hours of programming. This translates into Netflix subscribers watching a weekly average of 13 hours of programming in the 2015 period versus 12 hours in 2014.
Netflix has been spending heavily on content over the past three years and that is expected to increase that to $5 billion in 2016 alone. Ted Sandoros, Netflix's head of content, added the company will produce 600 hours of original content in 2016, including a new hero series called The Crown.
For existing Netflix subscribers the biggest news from CES may be that it will be adding High Dynamic Range (HDR) to its content later this year. Hastings said users with compatible TVs should get a "visceral sensation that's pretty amazing.” Rival Amazon began streaming a limited number of shows in the format in 2015.
Yesterday at CES Sony announced it will launch its own 4K video app named “Ultra” later this year. With Ultra you can purchase and stream 4K HDR movies and TV shows offered by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
