Netflix, the company whose streaming video service is reshaping traditional notions of television entertainment, has its sights on Spain, according to a report.
Pedro Perez, president of the local producers association FAPAE, confirmed that Netflix will debut in Spain in January 2012, and he said Netflix has contacted various Spanish producers ahead of the launch, ScreenDaily reported.
Netflix hasn't independently verified the report.
Los Gatos, Calif.-based Netflix, which streams television shows, movies and other content in Canada and the United States, already has announced plans to expand later this year to 43 countries across Mexico, the Caribbean and South America.
And in a letter to its shareholders last month, Netflix revealed plans to expand to a third international market in the first quarter of 2012. The company didn’t name Spain or any other country, however.
“Depending on content licensing discussions underway, we may launch one or more new countries in Q1," Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells wrote in the letter. “As in Latin America, we intend to offer a compelling mix of Hollywood, regional or local content."
Internet Piracy
Spain could prove challenging for Netflix because residents may be unwilling to pay a monthly fee for content in a country notorious for ranking as one of the worst offenders of Internet piracy.
“The highly connected Spanish population remains a market that is largely out of reach for legitimate digital content due to Spain’s persistent high levels of Internet piracy …," the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) wrote in a special report on copyright enforcement and protection. The IIPA attributes the high levels of piracy to “government policies that have created an Internet-wide safe harbor for infringing activities."
“For motion picture products, Spain ranks consistently among the five worst countries in absolute downloads, and is nearly always the number one major country in the world in terms of per capita exchanges of illegal copies of films," the IIPA report states.
If that’s the case, and Netflix still plans on making its European debut in Spain, the company must know something else about the market that makes it an attractive opportunity.
