Village Roadshow Confirms Australian Launch For Netflix

After more than half a year of speculation, US-based online streaming service Netflix has been confirmed as being in negotiations to make its popular platform locally available in Australia from 2015.

According to tech publication ZDNet, Village Roadshow chief executive Graham Burke has indicated that Netflix -- to date only available to Australian users through the quasi-legal use of geo-blocks/proxies and other workarounds -- is indeed headed Down Under.

"Netflix ... [is] talking to our people about supply of products, so they are opening and coming to Australia," he told ZDNet.

The revelation comes during a time when a line has been drawn in the sand around the issue of online piracy and Australian complicity in it; on the one hand, there is the camp that believes consumers are the only parties in the wrong as far as distribution of TV and film properties is concerned. On the other, some organisations, such as consumer advocacy group Choice, are happy to point to perceived failures in the system itself as well as those of the people.

Either way, the introduction of Netflix into Australia, at the very least, would put a dampener on the nation's ability to cry "left out" with regards to availability of such a service.

However, it won't necessarily all be resolutions and roses -- ZDNet indicates that, when Netflix does indeed make its Australian debut, it will be after the involved process of reaching local content distribution agreements, a process it needs to undergo for every new region into which it enters.

Netflix has recently made the leap into creating in-house programming, finding varying degrees of success with shows such as the revived Arrested Development, Kevin Spacey's political drama House Of Cards, and the phenomenally successful Orange Is The New Black, which has released its second season through the service.