4 ms·

I don't think they need to "operate" in India or anywhere else in the world. They just need to allow people to sign up for their service irrespective of where t

by msravi 11y ago

I don't think they need to "operate" in India or anywhere else in the world. They just need to allow people to sign up for their service irrespective of where they're from and access content, just like, you know, how the rest of the internet works. My guess is that they're being held back more by Hollywood's licensing conditions rather than individual countries' laws.

tracker1 11y ago
Unfortunately, distribution networks and related contracts are very complicated legally, not even going into local laws and other legalities. Netflix itself has a few good sized teams of developers dedicated just to creating tooling to help navigate the legal nightmares regarding distribution agreements and their streaming services. I'm pretty sure the studios would much rather be able to have a very few global release channels than the network remnants they currently have.
- msravi 11y ago
  Sorry, I don't get it. Are you saying that the studios are forced into this situation because of earlier contracts they've signed with cable networks? Aren't contracts signed separately for each new movie that they create?
  - tracker1 11y ago
    There are distribution deals with studios for all distribution to a given location and/or media within different regions. There is some content that is negotiated individually, others en-mass. It is often per-movie, but this only makes things more complicated, not less.
radmuzom 11y ago
No, Indians cannot sign up for any service irrespective of where it is hosted. If it is illegal, it can be blocked by the government (whether that is just or logical is a different issue, but I am not talking about that here).
- msravi 11y ago
  Sure, the government can. But that doesn't mean Netflix tries to satisfy the laws of all 196 countries in the world. Netflix is a US company, and they only need to satisfy US laws. And FYI, viewing of pornography is NOT illegal in India. I will not be breaking any Indian law by viewing a risque movie hosted in the US and streamed by Netflix.

by msravi 11y ago

tracker1 11y ago

Unfortunately, distribution networks and related contracts are very complicated legally, not even going into local laws and other legalities. Netflix itself has a few good sized teams of developers dedicated just to creating tooling to help navigate the legal nightmares regarding distribution agreements and their streaming services. I'm pretty sure the studios would much rather be able to have a very few global release channels than the network remnants they currently have.

msravi 11y ago
Sorry, I don't get it. Are you saying that the studios are forced into this situation because of earlier contracts they've signed with cable networks? Aren't contracts signed separately for each new movie that they create?
- tracker1 11y ago
  There are distribution deals with studios for all distribution to a given location and/or media within different regions. There is some content that is negotiated individually, others en-mass. It is often per-movie, but this only makes things more complicated, not less.

radmuzom 11y ago

No, Indians cannot sign up for any service irrespective of where it is hosted. If it is illegal, it can be blocked by the government (whether that is just or logical is a different issue, but I am not talking about that here).

msravi 11y ago
Sure, the government can. But that doesn't mean Netflix tries to satisfy the laws of all 196 countries in the world. Netflix is a US company, and they only need to satisfy US laws. And FYI, viewing of pornography is NOT illegal in India. I will not be breaking any Indian law by viewing a risque movie hosted in the US and streamed by Netflix.