Want Netflix without internet? Just download your favourite show

30 Nov 2016

Image: Netflix

Netflix has revealed its latest trick, with users now able to download a decent array of films and series to watch on the go, on mobile.

The most recent Netflix app update is a good one, allowing users to store their favourite TV shows and films to watch when they’re not online.

Netflix

So, for people travelling with almost non-existent internet access, the Netflix fix is now at the touch of a button.

Not everything is available to download, and one would assume the options will change from month to month, though the number available now is quite significant.

For example, Orange is The New Black, Narcos and The Crown are all available for download from today. If that’s not your thing, The Wildebeest Migration, currently taking up 196MB on my phone, downloaded in about half a minute.

Netflix

Image: Netflix

Our initial thoughts revolved around piracy. How will downloaded files not get shared around, thus creating havoc for rights issues at Netflix?

What the company has done, though, is quite clever. On mobile, users’ personal logins will have a new downloads section. It is here that the files are stored, housed in the app.

The new feature is included in all plans and available for phones and tablets on Android and iOS.

It has been a busy week for Netflix. Yesterday, it finally fell afoul of the EU’s open trade borders system, with the European Parliament approving new rules that will compel providers of online streaming services to offer the same access in different EU member states.

The measures provide for “cross-border portability” of paid-for online content in the realm of Netflix, or Spotify or Deezer, for example. This means users can log in to their account in any EU state and have unrestricted access to the content they paid for.

The California-headquartered streaming giant Netflix is growing fast around the world, and reported that it added 3.2m international subscribers and 370,000 domestic US subscribers in the third quarter of 2016.

Gordon Hunt was a journalist with Silicon Republic

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