US-based internet video service Netflix is coming to Cambodia next year, but still hasn’t tipped any launch in Thailand.
The Phnom Penh Post quoted Netflix spokesman Jonathan Friedland saying the on-demand video giant intends "to offer our service globally by the end of 2016 and that includes Cambodia".
Netflix currently has 65 million subscribers in more than 50 countries, with plans to add Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea early next year. It already operates in Japan.
The company is targeting service in 200 countries by the end of 2016, but has not specifically mentioned if Thailand would be on that list. People using Netflix in Thailand currently must do so using a virtual private network to a country Netflix supports.
While Netflix dominates streaming video on demand services in west, it could face stiffer competition in Asia from Singapore-based Hooq and Malaysia-based iflix, which recently launched in Thailand and charges only 100 baht a month versus Netflix's new subscriber rate of about 360 baht.
The company did not disclose prices it will charge in Cambodia.
Hooq, meanwhile, is backed by Singapore's Singtel, Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros Entertainment. It is available in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and India.
Mr Friedland, the Netflix spokesman, said the company is unconcerned about the startups, telling the Post "we have competition everywhere".
Meanwhile, Mark Britt, CEO of iflix, told the newspaper that its service, which also launched in the Philippines with an eye toward becoming the largest streaming-video service in Southeast Asia, said it was "specifically created to address the demands and challenges facing consumers in emerging markets" where internet infrastructure can be unreliable.
The company already has more than 450,000 members and licences with MGM, Warner Bros and Starz to deliver Hollywood, Asian and local content.
