In early January, streaming movie service Netflix went live in more than 130 new countries, signaling the website has truly become a global phenomenon.
While that's good news for people who want to be able to watch films without the fuss, some customers weren't thrilled by an announcement that came shortly after the service broadened its reach. Netflix representatives said, soon, viewers won't be able to use proxies or VPNs to watch Netflix shows that aren't available in their home countries.
Geo-Licensing Is A 'Historic Practice,' But One That's Out of Place in the Digital Age
Understandably, some customers saw the proxy-banning announcement as an unwelcome buzz kill. On the surface, it may seem if a person is paying the respective fee to get Netflix access, he or she should not be hindered by content restrictions. However, it's not so cut and dry as you might think.
A Netflix spokesperson confirmed the company's ultimate goal is to give the service's users across the world access to the same content, rather than only the shows that are available in their home countries.
"We look forward to offering all of our content everywhere and to consumers being able to enjoy all of Netflix without using a proxy. That's the goal we will keep pushing towards."
However, licensing restrictions sometimes make that ideal hard to achieve.
Netflix has a responsibility to the content providers that certain films or TV shows will only be available in localities that have licensed them. Historically, TV shows and movies are licensed by geographic territories. This is somewhat old fashioned in an age when the entire world can be connected on the Internet 24/7 but, nevertheless, Netflix is legally bound to uphold these content restrictions.
Netflix is Not Alone
Netflix plans to use tools that can determine whether users are trying to access content through alternative means. However, it's not the first streaming provider to do that. Hulu and iPlayer have as well.
Until recently, it's been pretty easy to use a VPN to watch geo-specific shows on Netflix. However, with the onset of these blocking initiatives, enjoying shows outside of your country could become much more difficult. This could be particularly annoying for vacationing travelers and study-abroad students.
Ultimately, Netflix isn't trying to make things unnecessarily difficult by restricting what users can watch and from where. The reason for the proxy blocking is mainly due to licensing restrictions. The more the site can uphold practices that keep content providers happy, the higher the likelihood is those companies will sign licensing agreements for more countries. If so, that would be a welcome development for streaming media fans everywhere.
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