The world's leading internet TV service just became available in more than 130 new countries, bringing the total to more than 190.
"Today you are witnessing the birth of a new global Internet TV network," chief executive Reed Hastings said, according to Netflix . "With this launch, consumers around the world – from Singapore to St. Petersburg, from San Francisco to Sao Paulo – will be able to enjoy TV shows and movies simultaneously -- no more waiting. With the help of the Internet, we are putting power in consumers’ hands to watch whenever, wherever and on whatever device."
Originally launched in the United States in 2007, the service quickly became popular and expanded throughout the Americas and Europe as well as to Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
The service allows subscribers to stream films and TV shows for a set monthly fee. As it has grown, the platform has begun creating widely popular original series and films in addition to the popular titles it already hosted.
According to Netflix, the platform already has 70 million global subscribers that watch 125 million hours per day.
Rumors of a Middle Eastern launch have been circulating for the past few months after Netflix posted jobs with Arabic language requirements. With this massive expansion, Netflix has positioned itself to add significant numbers of users within the Middle East and the rest of the world.
However, the service remains unavailable in world's largest country by population, China. Regionally, the service will also remain unavailable in Syria due to U.S. government restrictions for American companies. Inhabitants of Crimea and North Korea will also not have access to the service.
In addition to Arabic, the service added Korean as well as Simplified and Traditional Chinese, bringing the total number of languages available for users to 17.
