Netflix has finally arrived in Central and Eastern Europe, not any market in particular but the region as a whole.
So what can viewers expect from the service? A quick analysis of the local media indicates that in Poland it is already offering several dozen mostly US, UK and Canadian titles, with the notable exception of House of Cards, the rights to which are currently held by the DTH platform nc+.
It is being made available in three packages, ranging in price from around €8 to €12 a month in local currency, with the first month free of charge.
At first glance, these prices appear to be the same throughout the region. So, too, is the requirement to pay for the service by card or Paypal.
Significantly, House of Cards is also not available to viewers in Romania, and probably a few other markets besides.
Early indications also point to most if not all Netflix content being offered only in English, with some subtitling, and voiceover, being provided in Poland. However, this will in due course improve.
In Russia, Netflix has entered an already highly competitive on demand market served by a number of players. It is also highly competitive in Poland, though arguably less so in other CEE countries.
It seems almost inevitable that Netflix will have to sign agreements with leading platforms around the region to make its service as widely available as possible. These will probably include Liberty Global, which already offers Netflix to customers of, for instance, Virgin Media in the UK, and is the largest cable operator in CEE.
It will also have to offer as much localised content as possible.
The need for the industry to cooperate rather than compete with Netflix was arguably summed up by a headline in the Bulgarian site money.bg. This apparently, according to the publication Novinite, said “Killer of cable TV is now in Bulgaria”.
However, when checked by Broadband TV News, it was merely found to say “Netflix service now in Bulgaria”.
