Netflix NZ Bound

Netflix today announced it would launch an Australian-NZ HD and 4K streaming service in March but has not yet disclosed pricing.

Among the highlights exclusive to the platform will be the original series family thriller Bloodline, starring Ben Mendelsohn, Kyle Chandler, Sissy Spacek, Linda Cardellini and Sam Shepard; Marvel’’s Daredevil, with Charlie Cox, Rosario Dawson and Vincent D’’Onofrio; Sense8, a globe-spanning thriller series from the creators of The Matrix trilogy and Babylon 5; and, from the creator of Friends, Grace and Frankie, with Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda.

The news follows months of speculation of a Down Under push after an aggressive expansion in Europe and endless headlines about the number of Kiwis and Aussies accessing the US service by circumventing geo-blocking barriers.

The NZ launch, which will come only months after Spark and Sky have rolled out streaming services of their own, could be bad news for not only online competitors, like Lightbox and Quickflix, but also consumers, as content is likely to be much more limited than the US platform and may be priced higher.

The tangle of rights in this territory means many of the shows and movies on Netflix US will be locked up elsewhere here while Netflix is likely to crack down on backdoor access to its US site.

This week Australia’s Channel News reported Netflix’s launch was imminent and would hurt Foxtel, which, like Sky, persists with rorting HD customers with extra charges for a technology that’s now commonplace.