简体中文
Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings. Photo: EPA
(South China Morning Post) Internet streaming pioneer Netflix has rolled out its over-the-top (OTT) service in Hong Kong for as low as HK$63 a month hoping to making inroads into the city’s pay TV market.
Hong Kong is among 130 new markets – which exclude the mainland - in which the company rolled out the service yesterday, taking the total to 190 countries.
OTT applications deliver services over the internet that bypass traditional distribution channels from telecommunications, cable or satellite network operators.
Netflix, which is currently in talks with fixed line broadband network service provider Hong Kong Broadband Network concerning a partnership to distribute its programmes, will fuel competition and hit hard other TV services in Hong Kong, analysts said.
Netflix is the latest entrant to the city’s fast growing OTT market following the launch of services by Beijing-based LeTV.
“The prices it offered are extremely competitive” said Harry Yuen, senior analyst at Bright Smart Securities. “HK$63 is even cheaper than a movie ticket.”
Netflix provides three plans in Hong Kong with monthly fees of HK$63, HK$78, and $93 respectively, under which all users can enjoy unlimited movies and television shows on laptops, televisions, phones and tablets.
But whether the international streaming service provider will be able to continue its overseas success in Hong Kong will depend on how fast it can adapt to the local market, Yuen said.
Most of the programmes and movies on Netflix’s platform have been sourced from Western countries, such as Marvel-comics-adapted series Jessica Jones and Daredevil. But Netflix’s most famous original television series, House of Cards, is missing from its Hong Kong website, though Empresses in the Palace, a well-known mainland series, is there.
Yuen said the threat posed by Netflix to local pay TV service providers such as Cable TV and Now TV might be limited at the current stage, since much Netflix content was “niche” given ordinary Hong Kong people’s tastes, though he predicted OTT services would eat up a substantial share of the pay TV market in the future.
“The next generation are no longer sitting down and watching TV at home,” said Roger Shu-Kwan Cheng, a professor of electronic and computer engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Cheng said young people’s television-watching habits had changed, with laptops, smartphones and tablets becoming more popular platforms than traditional television sets.
Unlike its mainland counterpart LeTV, Netflix allows users to watch popular television series and movies on portable devices, such as smartphones, laptops and tablets. LeTV still needs to rely on a traditional display screen and an accompanying box to deliver services in Hong Kong.
IT sector legislator Charles Mok said he registered on Netflix yesterday, though he suspected the shows available on the Hong Kong platform were different from those on its United States site, as the famous House of Cards wasn’t there.
Internet users were quick to comment. “The catalogue of Netflix Hong Kong is quite limited,” ArchBoss, a Twitter user, said.
A spokesperson for Netflix said: “Similar to Netflix launches in other countries, the library will be more modest at launch.”
She didn’t specify the number of programmes available in Hong Kong but said: “We target to double the content in one year.”
LeTV, Netflix’s biggest rival in Hong Kong, has continued its expansion into sports broadcasting by signing a three-year deal with US Major League Baseball yesterday to screen the league in China, including Hong Kong and Macau.
