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Netflix officially announced the launch of its new website today, designed to offer viewers a “richer, more visual experience,” featuring speed improvements, better animations, and an overall more immersive experience that’s more like an app than a series of “linked web pages,” the company says. The website has been in testing for some time — in fact,… Read More

A growing number of consumers use VPNs to access out-of-market Netflix content, quite often because Netflix has yet to reach their market --something that's less of an issue as Netflix pushes to launch in 200 markets internationally before the year's end. However, even in launched Netflix markets, customers often still use VPNs to access the broader U.S. Netflix catalog. For Netflix competitors, the solution to this is fairly obvious (offer better service, more content, and stop using geo-restrictive licensing as a weapon), but of course many companies would instead rather focus on vilifying VPN usage itself.

Back in 2013, Techdirt wrote a story about how Netflix was using piracy as market research -- an approach that is as obvious as it is rare. The copyright maximalists doubtless hoped that would fail dismally, and that Netflix would see the error of its ways and join the industry chorus condemning piracy as a terrible scourge that impoverishes artists and causes society to collapse. Neither has happened, as an interview with Netflix's CEO, Reed Hastings, in El Mundo makes clear (original in Spanish, via TorrentFreak). Hastings confirms that looking at pirate sites to find out what people were interested in did indeed work out well in the Netherlands, and that this gives him confidence Netflix will thrive when it launches later this year in Spain -- a country that has traditionally had a high level of piracy:

"We offer a simpler and immediate alternative to finding a torrent," Reed Hastings says.

The new head of Bell Media is facing backlash on social media after saying it should be socially unacceptable for Canadians to use technological tricks to access U.S. Netflix.

New head of Bell Media faces backlash on social media over Netflix comment

Bell Media’s new president has a message for Canadians who hide behind virtual private networks to access video streaming services intended for U.S. subscribers, calling the practice “stealing just like stealing anything else.”

Der Streaming-Dienst Netflix testet bei einigen Nutzern Werbeeinblendungen im Stream für die hauseigenen Serien. Die Angst vor Werbelästigung steigt und erhitzt die Gemüter der Netflix-Gemeinde.

Video-streaming service’s original series may be trailed before other Netflix shows if tests prove popularNetflix is testing pre-roll trailers before its original shows, according to reports from users.However, the company is keen to emphasise that the trailers, which promote other Netflix original shows, are “not adverts in the traditional sense”, according to a statement given to the Verge. The company also reaffirmed its promise to users that third-party adverts will never be shown on the site. Continue reading...

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