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Netflix is in talks to ban VPN access

By Kenny Yeo - on 22 Sep 2014, 10:03am

Netflix is in talks to ban VPN access

Netflix has enjoyed much success in the past few years as its number of subscribers has grown almost exponentially. In just the past year, numbers have grown from around 33.1 million U.S. subscribers to more than 50 million today. In addition, its original productions such as The Square and House of Cards have been critically acclaimed.

However, the service is now under fire from Australian rights holders of US-produced shows and movies. Specifically, these right holders want Netflix to block VPN access so that people in Australia cannot access them. Currently, it is estimated that around 200,000 Australians access Netflix using VPN.

While Australians using VPN to access Netflix would still need to pay Netflix subscription fees, the problem comes because of the way rights are handled for shows and movies. Typically, these are negotiated on a per-country basis with the distributors. In other words, Netflix does not own the rights to show certain shows in Australia, which might belong to another Australian company. Hence, these companies want Netflix to block VPN access from its own citizens so that they have no choice but to turn to them for the content instead.

Simon Bush, CEO of AHEDA (Australian Home Entertainment Distributors Association) said that discussions for such arrangements are already on the way. Additionally, he added that the discussions would not just pertain to Australia and they are pushing for Netflix to enforce a public ban on VPN use in general, much like its competitor Hulu.

Bush said, "I know the discussions are being had...by the distributors in the United States with Netflix about Australians using VPNs to access content that they're not licensed to access in Australia. They're requesting for it to be blocked now, not just when it comes to Australia."

For our readers who do use VPN to access Netflix, it would be good to keep tabs on how this developments in the weeks ahead.

Source: Forbes

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