Netflix pushes in the UK

Posted by Kayla Phantom On Monday, January 9th 2012 in Technology

Netflix Inc. started making the move it had been waiting to be able to do for a long time. On Monday it started pushing towards the U.K. and Ireland. This was the first step the Internet movie service made in its expansion in Europe. Netflix will compete against Lovefilm which is a U.K.-based online-video rival that was acquired by Amazon last year. The competition between Netflix and Amazon is still going strong in the US as well, seeing as the latter included free online movie streaming in its subscriptions.

Netflix and Amazon's Lovefilm, on the other hand, are on the same level seeing as they face comparable prices and services.

"[Netflix] has a standing start in the U.K.," said Richard Broughton, the head of broadband media at analysis firm IHS Screen Digest. "The pay-TV sector is pretty developed, pretty advanced—and there is this competitive issue that they are facing, in that Lovefilm have an existing subscriber base."

On Monday both companies revealed their new offers, unlimited online movie streaming packages, that cost £5.99 and £4.99 a month, respectively. British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC will be hard pressed on all sides now that these two companies are soaring in the UK.

Sky has 10 million U.K. subscribers which usually view English Premier League soccer matches on Sky Sports or Hollywood films on Sky Movies. Netflix and Lovefilm are both competing for rights to show Hollywood films in homes before they are released worldwide.

"It poses challenges for Sky, but, equally, they've got a lot in their locker," Paul Gooden, a media analyst at the Royal Bank of Scotland, revealed.