The Internet movie subscription service just launched its service in Canada. This is the first time Netflix has offered streaming video outside the United States.
In an effort to strengthen its offering in Canada, the company signed license agreements with leading motion-picture studios, including Lionsgate, MGM Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox, and Universal Pictures.
The monthly subscription is reported to cost $7.99 a month, a dollar less than its U.S. service. Consumers can also download the iPhone app for mobile streaming of thousands of movies and TV episodes. Like the U.S. subscription service, Canadian consumers will have unlimited viewing on demand.
Canada's six million video-game console owners can stream Netflix through their boxes to the television set, or through Blu-ray disc players from Samsung and Toshiba. Of course, consumers can also watch the programming on PCs and Macs. Netflix hinted at adding Blu-ray disc players from VIZIO and Insignia to the hardware mix in the coming months, along with Internet TVs from Samsung and Apple TV.
Earlier this month, Netflix inked a licensing deal with Nu Image/Millennium Films. First-run theatrical films distributed by the group will be available for streaming over the Internet to subscribers during the pay-TV window. Nu Image and Millennium Films are best known for big-budget action-thriller movies such as The Expendables, John Rambo, Brooklyn's Finest, Righteous Kill, 16 Blocks, and Black Dahlia.
