Netflix Inc plans to enter Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea early next year as the online video-streaming company races to complete a global rollout.
Netflix will begin by streaming a selection of popular TV shows, movies and kid-friendly programming. Most will come with local subtitles and details such as pricing will be disclosed later, it said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
The Los Gatos, California-based company only started service in Japan last week, and it plans to complete a global expansion by the end of next year as it pursues sources of revenue beyond its home market.
Photo: AFP
Its growth prospects have made the stock the top performer in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index this year, with subscribers exceeding 65 million in 50 countries.
Still, the shares have pulled back in recent weeks, in part due to concern over increased competition for viewers’ dollars.
Time Warner Inc’s HBO, Hulu and Amazon.com Inc have all boosted their online offerings this year, while Apple Inc is considering its own video-streaming service.
Netflix shares fell 3.9 percent to US$94.95 at the close in New York on Tuesday, the seventh-straight daily decline.
The stock has risen 95 percent this year.
While the US and Europe are heavily contested, much of Asia outside of China remains fertile ground for streaming services in search of new markets.
Netflix expanded to New Zealand and Australia in March, and this month began streaming in Japan, a country with more broadband households than any of its current markets apart from the US.
The company made local programming a cornerstone of its strategy in the world’s third-largest economy. It partnered with Fuji Media Holdings Inc to produce a drama for the service’s debut, the first time Netflix has started out in an overseas market with local content.
Chief executive officer Reed Hastings has also said he hopes to get Netflix into China next year, though the company did not mention Asia’s largest economy in yesterday’s statement.
Netflix faces entrenched competition there in Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊), Baidu Inc (百度) and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴), which has begun testing a Netflix-like service dubbed Tmall Box Office.
Meanwhile, PCCW Ltd (電訊盈科), controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li (李澤楷), is planning a video-on-demand service for South Africa that would compete with Netflix and Naspers Ltd’s ShowMax, according to two people familiar with the matter.
PCCW’s HKT unit will unveil the entertainment service as early as next week, said one of the people who asked not to be identified as the product is not public yet.
Telecommunications conglomerate PCCW bought a majority stake in mobile video-on-demand service Vuclip in March and plans to expand the service into new markets, including Africa.
PCCW declined to comment.
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