Netflix will provide 4K streaming services in Australia from March next year. Just how successful this will be is questionable Broadband is poor for the majority of Australians with suburban Aussies mostly on 200 GB of download space at ADSL2 speed. This is insufficient for 4K. You will have to pay a high premium to Netflix to get it as well.
Few will pay more for less, so few will buy 4K televisions to get it. Personally, I feel it is a bad business judgement. You can't sell travel tickets before the railway is built and it will be at least a decade before Australian broadband is even adequate.
Like all the other Internet companies Netflix will spy on you, offering new content based on your history of movies watched. You will not be able to turn this "feature" off. Just about everything is available on Foxtel now and the price is falling. Spying is not possible on the Foxtel satellite TV service.
In the US, Netflix has been accused of crowding out other Internet users. This will happen in Australia. There is no way all the houses in a street can be using Netflix at the same time. It will come to a sudden halt. Cable is a poor investment in Australia with its sparse population and high cost of cable laying. The NBN is struggling with laying fibre optic.
The only company with the resources to effectively offer a profitable streaming movie business is Telstra. If it chooses to obstruct Netflix the new service will not get very far. A partnership is absolutely necessary. Furthermore, Telstra owns 50 per cent of Foxtel.
Technology by Ty Buchanan
