One of the main reasons why the Netflix streaming platform catalog is different in each country is because it has to comply with all kinds of agreements, licenses and regulations around the world. While some economic areas such as the European Union seek to require foreign transmission services to offer a percentage of locally produced content, others countries like Russia are much stricter.
One of the tricks that many users resort to to pay less for this service is to subscribe to Netflix through a VPN in other countries. As the Netflix account can be used equally anywhere in the world regardless of where it is signed up, many users save money through this trick or strategy. As we said, the Netflix catalog varies depending on the country in which it is contracted and now Russia wants to force the platform to broadcast 20 state television channels.
Is Netflix a live TV streaming service?
Russia seems to be being one of the strictest regulatory countries, as the country wants to force Netflix to become something that has not been seen until now: a live TV streaming service that caters to customers with at least 20 state television channels as of March 2022.
According to The Moscow Time, the Russian Internet and Television Regulatory Authority, Roskomnadzoradded the US service to its registry of “audiovisual services” on Tuesday. The services on this list must show “at least 20 state television channels in their portfolio, including the news television station NTV, the main general-interest station Channel One, and the Spas station of the Russian-Orthodox Church (« Saved » ), and critics say these and more channels are used for pro-government propaganda purposes. These requirements come into force as of March 2022 ”.
Netflix forced to register a new Russian subsidiary
These regulations will also force the streaming platform to register a new Russian subsidiary within the country. In turn, you will also have to follow the provisions prohibiting the promotion of “extremism”, which is a restriction that, according to critics, has been used mainly to make communication difficult for the oppositions.
These regulations will only apply in Russia so Netflix can continue with its usual catalog in the rest of the countries. It remains to be seen whether the company will be willing to tolerate the aforementioned restrictions or choose to stop providing service in Russia if it is economically feasible.
Whether Netflix chooses to abide by Russia’s demands remains to be seen whether it will use this technology to broadcast live television channels in other markets. In fact, Netflix has already made live television experiments in France last year implementing a new feature called Direct that mimics the way a traditional TV channel works.