Netflix seems to be quickly becoming the de facto entertainment provider. People use it to subsidize their cable subscriptions and many are using it to completely replace their cable subscription. With already more subscribers than Comcast, Netflix is continuing that upward climb by expanding to Latin America later this year.
According to a post written to the Netflix Blog:
Hi, Jessie Becker, VP of Marketing here. We’re excited to share with you the news that later this year, Netflix will expand to 43 countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, offering unlimited TV shows and movies streaming instantly over the Internet to TVs and computers for one low monthly subscription price.
Netflix members in the U.S. and Canada have really taken to watching instantly and we feel great about being able to offer the same combination of convenience, choice and value to people in Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean.
Members in the region will be able to access Netflix.com in Spanish, Portuguese or English, depending on their preference, and will be able to enjoy entertainment on their TVs via a range of consumer electronics devices capable of streaming from Netflix, as well as on PCs, Macs and mobile devices.
We’ll keep you posted on the dates when we plan to expand in the region and hope you’ll spread the word that Netflix will soon be accessible throughout the Americas! Meantime, if you’d like to sign up for the Latin America service, go to www.netflix.com and leave your info; we’ll send an email reminder when the service launches.
Early response to the blog post shows its typical angry customers. Some are complaining about the new user interface while others are complaining that Canada doesn’t get movies in French while these new countries will be getting it in Spanish, Portuguese, or English. The user interface overhaul blog post has maxed out at over 5000 comments complaining about it. One person speculates in a comment on today’s blog post that the user interface change now makes sense. The UI has gone much more visual with pictures because it will be less to translate and more appealing to multiple languages.
Will Netflix spread themselves too thin? Will they make their first customer base feel abandoned and forgotten? Do customers really benefit from Netflix’s expansion with an economies of scale for licensing or is it just using those saved resources for translating, increased customer support, and regional movie selection?