The issues surrounding geoblocking and Australian availability of content are a hot topic right now. Equally hot is the new season of Arrested Development, funded by and released by Netflix over the weekend in the US. Now CHOICE is getting involved in efforts to get Netflix legally available in Australia.
Now, there are plenty of ways to circumvent the geoblocking efforts that stop Netflix working in Australia, and they don’t seem averse to Aussie credit cards, but you still can’t ‘officially’ get Netflix here, and the issues around circumvention are, at best, legally grey.
CHOICE’s campaign asks about Arrested Development, which is an interesting strategy; given it’s a Netflix original series, they should be the primary rights holders that need to allow its broadcast. CHOICE’s campaign focuses on a Facebook-related letter of protest, which you can access from CHOICE’s Facebook page.
The previous Netflix-funded series, House Of Cards, ended up on Foxtel after a broadcast delay; whether CHOICE’s campaign will simply see a faster-than-usual announcement of who’s got the relevant Arrested Development rights, or a fast-tracking of Netflix down under remains to be seen. My inner cynic suggests the former is much more likely than the latter, given the complex mess that is broadcast rights down under.
Source: Facebook
Images: Netflix, CHOICE