UPDATE – Here’s some clarity, courtesy ch24:

Netflix’s South African offering is dramatically curtailed from what Netflix subscribers in the United States or some other countries are getting.

Does Netflix have any previous seasons or the latest season of its own hit shows House of Cards or Orange is the New Black? Nope, because it sold its own shows to M-Net.

Does Netflix have HBO’s Game of Thrones or ITV’s Downton Abbey? Nope, those are signed to linear TV channels like M-Net and BBC Worldwide’s BBC First on MultiChoice’s DStv with the rights to previous seasons of both those shows held by Naspers’s ShowMax.

In the same way literally hundreds of TV shows are missing from Netflix’s South African version because the global streaming giant doesn’t have the rights and can’t show it.

Does Netflix have its own buzzy and new Making a Murderer, the great and hilarious comedies Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Master of None and dramas like Marco Polo, Sense8, Narcos and Marvel’s Jessica Jones? Yes, since Netflix didn’t sell those rights of its own original shows.

Will Netflix subscribers in South Africa be able to watch Fuller House, the Netflix comedy spin-off of Full House when it starts in February? Very likely.

Can Netflix users download these shows on tablets and smartphones in broadband pricey and penetration limited South Africa like PCCW Global’s ONTAPtv.com and ShowMax? No.

[more]

At last! South Africans can use the term ‘Netflix and chill’ without referring to those illegal streaming sites and their shocking quality. Early last night, news broke of Netflix’s launch in 130 countries worldwide, including our very own. The price isn’t bad at all: At only $7.99 (R126) per month for the starting package and the premium coming in at $11.99 (R191), it comes with a free month’s trial.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, here’s a breakdown:

Netflix is an on-demand streaming program to which you pay a subscription fee to access film and television media – but unlike those illegals that float around the web, the media is pretty legit and the quality is tantalising. Netflix even streams original content that you might have heard of. Here are five series that will convince you to get on board – even if they are not yet available on South Africa’s Netflix:

1. Orange is the New Black

The story of Piper Chapman, a woman in her thirties who is sentenced to fifteen months in prison after being convicted of a decade-old crime of transporting money to her drug-dealing girlfriend.

2. Making a Murderer

Filmed over a 10-year period, Making a Murderer is an unprecedented real-life thriller about Steven Avery, a man absolved by DNA evidence who, while in the midst of exposing corruption in local law enforcement, finds himself the prime suspect in a grisly new crime. Set in America’s heartland, the series takes viewers inside a high-stakes criminal case where reputation is everything and things are never as they appear.

3. Narcos

A chronicled look at the criminal exploits of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, Narcos tells the true-life story of the growth and spread of cocaine drug cartels across the globe and attendant efforts of law enforcement to meet them head on in brutal, bloody conflict. Centered around the notorious kingpin (Wagner Moura) and Steve Murphy (Holbrook), a DEA agent sent to Colombia on a U.S. mission to capture and ultimately kill him.

4. Marco Polo

In a world replete with greed, betrayal, sexual intrigue and rivalry, “Marco Polo” is based on the famed explorer’s adventures in Kublai Khan’s court in 13th century China.

5. House of Cards

A Congressman works with his equally conniving wife to exact revenge on the people who betrayed him. Majority House Whip Francis Underwood takes you on a long journey as he exacts his vengeance on those he feels wronged him – that is, his own cabinet members including the President of the United States himself. Dashing, cunning, methodical and vicious, Frank Underwood along with his equally manipulative yet ambiguous wife, Claire take Washington by storm through climbing the hierarchical ladder to power in this Americanized recreation of the BBC series of the same name.

But don’t stress, if you’re not into series, there are loads of movies and documentaries available as well.

[source: fin24]