Netflix will expand to Southern Europe. The streaming giant has confirmed that it will launch its service in Italy and Spain this October. Update: Portugal, too.
Netflix coming to Italy & Spain
In January, Netflix said that it will expand to virtually every country in the world over the next 2 years. The next wave of launch countries will include Italy, Spain, and possibly more.
Reed Hastings confirmed the news about Spain in an interview with El Mundo, saying that “I think Spain is to be one of our biggest successes, with an audience with a very high connectivity level which is use to e-commerce and has often shown interest in our product."
Netflix later confirmed the launch in Italy on twitter; “Buongiorno! Ora č ufficiale: a ottobre Netflix arriva in Italia. A proposito, come si dice binge-watching in italiano?”
Viewers in Southern Europe will be able to enjoy Netflix’s originals such as the new Sense8, Marco Polo, Daredevil, Bloodline, and soon also movies by Netflix’s studio. However, House of Cards and Orange is the new black will not be available on Netflix in Spain and Italy due to rights held by Canal+. Viewers will also be able to enjoy certain content in 4K resolution. This requires an Ultra HD TV with HEVC and an internet connection of at least 16 Mb/s.
Netflix has more than 62 million subscribers worldwide and will also expand to Japan later this year - its first Asian country. The company is also rumored to be looking at other regions such as Singapore.
