After months of speculations, our prayers were answered in a few tense minutes at CES 2016 when Co-founder and Chief Executive of Netflix Inc. Reed Hastings announced that Netflix was finally going global.
Yes, you can head on over to www.netflix.com right now and instantly avail yourself to a free month of streaming whilst subscribing to the world’s biggest on-demand internet streaming service.
“Today you are witnessing the birth of a new global Internet TV network. 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.”
– Reed Hastings, Co-Founder & CEO of Netflix.
For one monthly price, users in the UAE 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 catalog of licensed TV shows and movies. Furthermore 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.
Subscribing is easy, letting you choose between three different subscription offers, with the Basic offer starting at $7.99 (AED 30) a month, to the Standard offer at $9.99 (AED 37) a month and lastly the Premium offer which you can get for only $12 (AED 44) a month.
Netflix has also gone to lengths to cater to potential subscribers around the world, by introducing more languages such as Arabic, Korean 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. We’re looking forward to bringing great stories from all over the world to people all over the world.”
One country which the service confirmed it had not expanded to was China, though according to Hastings the service is popular there, hinting at the fact that some users are circumventing the Great Firewall to access it. In a Q&A after the keynote Hastings announced that “you need specific permission from the government to be able to operate” and that “it would take some time” for them to extend their service to the country.
*Ongoing Story*
