Quickflix – the Australian equivalent of Netflix – is said to announce a new distribution deal, and plans to increase its own content available for online streaming as it sees this year to be the year where streaming will kick off.
Speaking to The Australian, its founder and chairman Stephen Langsford said that he believes the company could lead the entertainment rental industry towards online and digital distribution, rather than having a physical presence. Their move is inspired – and in fact, could be a copy of – by Netflix, who has managed to shift movie consumption away from DVDs to streaming.
“Australian physical retailers have had 10 years to see this coming and now there’s not a whole lot of sympathy from Australian consumers,” Langsford told the paper. “And now some of the retailers in Australia have been dragged to the party.”
“We see the decline of the bricks-and-mortar rentals only increasing, which means Quickflix is in a position that in 10 years we will have demand for our DVD rental business because we will be the last man standing.”
In addition, a new deal with a “leading US television network” will be announced this week – it is most likely related for its online streaming service. It already has an arrangement with Sony, Universal and Warner Bros to stream movies to the PlayStation 3 and the Sony Bravia internet-connected television sets.
Australians have been seeing an increase to digital streaming services. We’ve seen all major broadcasters and Foxtel having their own television catch-up services, while Quickflix and Telstra have made it possible to stream movies online. The music industry is also (finally) in this streaming craze, with JB Hi-Fi Now and the recently announced Rdio.
So, where to next? Perhaps, somewhere on par with Britain and the United States?