Netflix Come to Australia!

Australia has forever been behind in having access to television content; remember having to wait six months for new episodes of your favourite US drama? Subscription television service Foxtel has done well to rectify that over the past couple of years, and more recently Australia has finally gotten into the online streaming game with companies like Quickflix, Presto, and Stan. And today Netflix – arguably the world’s most well-known media streaming service –also becomes available to Australians.

While this is exciting news for a television fan such as myself, I’m wondering, is there any real benefit of me signing up to Netflix, or any other of the streaming services for that matter? I’ve long since solved the problem of not having access to certain television series when I want them by finding other ways, free ways (but not strictly legal) I might add. And sure, I’d definitely be willing to pay for that if need be , but not all of these streaming services will offer exactly what I, or any other television viewer for that matter, exactly want from a service provider.

With that in mind I’ve signed up for the free month trials that Quickflix, Presto, Stan and Netflix all provide in order to gauge whether any of these services could actually be the right one for me. I’ll be keeping a daily journal detailing my usage of each, which may sound excessive, but I obviously want to see how much I use each site to make sure that I’d be getting my money’s worth if I decide to pay for any (or all) of them at the end of the month. I’ll also be looking at the usual stuff like content availability, design/ functionality, accessibility, and of course, pricing in my consideration. Overall, it’s obviously going to be a matter of personal taste – I don’t actually expect anyone to subscribe to any of these sites based on my thoughts – I just thought I’d share mine, from one television lover to another.

So are any other Aussies excited that Netflix is finally here? Will you get it? Why/why not? Do you subscribe to any other online streaming services offered in Aus? Any of our international friends already subsribe to Netflix (or anything else like it?), what are your thoughts? Because I'd love to hear them.