Netflix is eyeing a January 2012 target date for its debut in a country in which illegal downloads outstrip movie ticket sales by 4-to-1. There was no announcement from the streaming and DVD rental giant, but Pedro Perez, president of the local producers association, confirmed that Netflix had contacted various Spanish producers ahead of its launch. Spain is on the International Intellectual Property Alliance’s Watchlist of offenders for piracy with 400 million illegal downloads per year, compared with 100 million tickets sold in the theaters. Several attempts by local producers and distributors to provide legal downloading sites in Spain have struggled so far. Among them, Apple’s iTunes store, which opened in Spain in November, has gotten off to a slow sales start.


Here in Spain EVERYBODY downloads and share films, and nobody wants to pay for watching them. It’s a corrupt country in many ways, and It will be difficult for Netflix to survive.
That’s true, but the Netflix offering is unmatched in the Spanish market, where legal streaming sites are much more expensive than in USA.
Don’t worry, Jon, in Spain Netflix will be very expensive. As I told you, in this country the only things people knows is stealing to the clients, stealing to the service suppliers, and try to obtain everything free from the state because they deserve it.
Exact, every is more expensive in Spain. I can to buy “The Beauty and the beast” combo Blu-ray-DVD per €11 in U.K. (free shipping). In a spanish shop costs €21. Is that normal? The people buy videogames and movies in online shops of other countries.
I´am spanish, for the first (angry) poster, Do you know why people download content here in Spain?, it´s not because we are criminals or pirates, in here all music CD, DVDs, books have serious overprice, look, i never buy nothing of this in spain, i shop online in UK, even with the shipping still much cheaper than go to Fnac, withot mention the contents offer, to spain only arrives blockbusters and mainstream content, if you look for obscure movie from the 80s, dont look at spanish shops, wont find it.
About digital offer, there is not. So i think if Netflix offer in Spain is 8$ equivalent per month it will be great success.
About the article. You say that several legal downloading sites have struggled, name it, please. There’s only one I can remember and almost all its movies are form outside the commercial market.
About i-tunes; I don’t know in others countries, but in Spain, from 20 films I’d like to view, only 2 are listed, and none in rental. About the prices in I-Tunes: 3.99€ for SD and 4.99€ for HD, that is, $5.71 and $ 7.14. In my local dvd store, I can rent a bluray for €2. You think is strange that I-Tunes has got a slow sales start?
Finally, about Daniel. For their words you can say that has political issues. How can anyone says that EVERYBODY in a country is a thieve? That people only cares about steal from others? This country only exists in his troubled mind. There always will be people who don’t want to pay for other’s work, but also, there’s people who want to consume culture with reasonable prices.
Does anyone know where Netflix will be based in Spain? Madrid, Barcelona?