California – Netflix has just has more than tripled its reach by expanding the internet TV service to 135 new countries. The company made the announcement and flicked the switch during a keynote by Co-founder and Chief Executive Reed Hastings at CES 2016.
Before Wednesday (January 7), Netflix was available in 60 countries and 17 languages. It first launched its streaming service in 2007 and has expanded globally first to Canada.
While largely available in English in most new countries, Netflix also today added Arabic, Korean, Simplified and Traditional Chinese.
Netflix will not yet be available in China, though the company continues to explore options for providing the service. It also won’t be available in Crimea, North Korea and Syria due to U.S. government restrictions on American companies.
“Today you are witnessing the birth of a new global Internet TV network,” said Hastings.
“With this launch, consumers around the world — from Singapore to St. Petersburg, from San Francisco to Sao Paulo — will be able to enjoy TV shows and movies simultaneously — no more waiting. With the help of the Internet, we are putting power in consumers’ hands to watch whenever, wherever and on whatever device.”
In 2016, the company plans to release 31 new and returning original series, two dozen original feature films and documentaries, a wide range of stand-up comedy specials and 30 original kids series — available at the same time to members everywhere.
“From today onwards, we will listen and we will learn, gradually adding more languages, more content and more ways for people to engage with Netflix,” said Hastings. “We’re looking forward to bringing great stories from all over the world to people all over the world.”
