Netflix is changing its streaming policies and tightening its grips on some of your favorite TV shows and movies.
The video streaming service said that it is planning to take certain steps to ensure that the customers are not able to access the contents that are not officially available in their country.
David Fullagar, vice president of content delivery architecture at Netflix, wrote in a blog post,
“In coming weeks, those using proxies and unblockers will only be able to access the service in the country where they currently are.” Fullagar further added that these restrictions “would not have been needed if they streaming of similar content was done globally.“.
The catalog of offerings by Netflix differs from country to country because of content-licensing deals. That is the viewing options that the user will depend on the location from which the services are getting accessed. For instance, “Parks and Recreation“, cannot be streamed in Australia and those in the UK won’t be able to have access to the “The Walking Dead“.
However, with technology, the geoblocks have become quite obsolete, as a user from restricted locations is also able to access the content from any desired location. One such popular trick is the virtual private network, better known as VPN services, that is able to direct internet services from any desired location across the world, fooling the servers to think that the person is from a location that can have access to its service.
Netflix’s terms of service, however, are completely against the use of these services and according to a spokesperson, Netflix employs several methods to find the location of its member and prevent “attempts to circumvent proper geolocation.”
The current restrictions are enforced in lieu of the massive global expansions by the company. At present, you can access these services in more than 190 countries. There are over 70 million subscribers to Netflix, with more than half of them located in the US.
Content availability of the streaming service will now depend on the international licencing deals that the studios will construct before releasing their shows or movies.
Fullagar concluded by saying, “In the meantime, we will continue to respect and enforce content licensing by geographic location.“.