Getting Netflix in Australia has been pretty simple in recent years. Just fire up your VPN tunnelling service and get yourself some of that sweet streaming content. The future functionality of such a method looks in doubt today as studios work towards blocking VPNs coming from Australia to access Netflix.
Netflix isn’t officially available in Australia, which means that if you want to get it, you can either sit and wait until it launches next year, or use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to trick the service into thinking you’re an American user.
CNET reports That Australia may soon be left in the dark by Netflix as studios work to block those attempting to circumvent the geoblocking process.
A representative of studios including 20th Century Fox, Warner, Universal and Sony says that big studios aren’t going to take it anymore, adding that discussions to block Netflix in Australia are “happening now”.
The moves to block the service in Australia come as the Netflix service reportedly starts picking up streaming rights to shows for the Australian market. It’s being reported that Netflix has the exclusive Australian streaming rights to the Batman prequel show Gotham slated for air later this year. The SMH reports that Netflix would likely have to wait until Nine aired the show locally in Australia before it could be streamed here.
Are we about to lose our Netflix? [CNET, TorrentFreak]