Netflix launches in Brazil
September 6, 2011
By Colin Mann
Netflix has launched its movie and TV streaming service in Brazil, the first deployment in an intended series of roll-outs across Latin America. The company plans to expand into 43 countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
“What Netflix seeks to do is connect the world to provide the world’s content to the world’s citizens,” commented CEO Reed Hastings at the service’s inauguration.
Netflix will add service to Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay on September 7, then will expand to Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean within a week.
The launch poses additional challenges for Netflix. Broadband Internet reaches a far smaller percentage of homes in Latin America than in the US, and speeds are slower. Piracy of movies is among the most widespread globally. Only 20 per cent of Brazil’s 42 million Internet users have a connection speed above 500 kilobytes per second, according to a May report from Ibope Nielsen Online. A speed of around 800 kilobytes per second is the minimum required to stream movies online.
The service in Brazil will cost 14.99 reals per month (€6.50), and new subscribers will receive the first month for free.