Netflix planning Aussie expansion?

Online movie rental giant Netflix has experienced runaway success in the US, but is the entertainment giant planning on a move down under?

(Credit: Netflix)

The Australian IT has today reported sources familiar with Netflix's negotiations as saying that the company is looking to forge new alliances in Australia, with a view to plant a flag in the market within 18 months.

Netflix's lips have long been sealed on the matter, however, saying that it won't comment on international plans outside of its impending expansion into Latin America.

The entry of Netflix into the Australian market could disrupt the foothold of local competitors like Telstra's T-Box, or the alternate FetchTV offering. Internet service providers (ISPs) including iiNet, Westnet and Internode all carry FetchTV with Adam Internet and Optus set to offer it soon.

Telstra last year beefed up its network infrastructure to deliver content over the T-Box offering. More recently, the telco has offloaded its physical DVD rentals business to Quickflix, citing its online delivery network as the reason.

It's still unclear how Netflix would approach content licensing arrangements with Hollywood film studios if it were to move to Australia, with current licensing deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars each. Complex content licensing agreements are often cited as the barrier to the Australian deployment of new cloud music offerings from Amazon and Google.