Netflix Launches in Armenia

YEREVAN (Panarmenian.net) — Netflix announced Wednesday, January 6 that it’s launching in an additional 130 countries, including Armenia, making the streaming service available in almost every country, the Guardian reports.

Reed Hastings, the company’s CEO, said he’s hopeful it will launch in China in the near future. The company also pointed out that North Koreans won’t be able to access the wealth of western entertainment either – and Syria is out, too, due to U.S. trade embargoes.

The service will largely be in English in the new countries, supported by subtitles. The company is adding Arabic, Korean and both traditional and simplified Chinese to the roster of 17 languages it already supports.

Even before today’s expansion, the company claims it’s in 70m homes worldwide. While Netflix might not have as many customers as a large U.S. TV network, the firm can still claim to have more reach than almost any other traditional broadcaster – the exceptions being news outlets and YouTube.

For the TV and film industries, Netflix does have one powerful draw: it’s incredibly good at reducing piracy. The company says that the public will gladly pay a fair monthly price to have access to movies and shows, and this can have a dramatic effect on the amount of illegally downloaded material.