Netflix to Move Into Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Sep 9, 6:43AM EDT · Published Sep 9, 5:08AM EDT

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Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) is opening up its service in some of the most broadband intensive markets in the world. The company will start service in Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong as its spreads its on-demand streaming, original programming and cord cutting model around the world.

The company reported:

Netflix, Inc. announced today it will expand into South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan in early 2016 as it moves to complete its global rollout by the end of next year.

Once launched, Internet users will be able to subscribe to Netflix and instantly watch a curated selection of popular TV shows and movies in high-definition or even Ultra HD 4K on nearly any Internet-connected screen. Netflix first became available in Asia earlier this month with the start of service in Japan.

According to the World Bank, Internet penetration in these nations is high. So is Internet speed. Statistica reports that South Korean has the fastest broadband speeds of any country in the world, and Hong Kong is in the top 10.

Netflix supposes its model is portable and will work as well throughout the world as it does in the United States. So far, it can support that claim. At the end of the second quarter, it had 22.3 million subscribers outside the United States, along with the 42.3 million in America. Whether Netflix gets accepted in every country it has entered depends on how people are used to using premium content, and how much competition there is.

Netflix, despite its growth, has struggled with Wall Street. Shares trade at $95 in a 52-week range of $129 to $45.

Netflix management will not know until its model faces market rejection in some region whether it has gone a bridge too far.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.