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Comment by firasd | Hacker News Reader

Here in India, Netflix costs ₹500/mo. Amazon Prime costs ₹999 for the whole year. Both are much pricier compared to regular cable TV, which gives you hundreds of channels for a few hundred rupees per month. So there's a saturation point to at least some of their international expansion unless incomes start rising more broadly...

Also, anecdotally, I only have so much time for 'prestige' TV. They cover Delhi and Youtube in ads everytime they have something to announce--Altered Carbon, which I watched, but then they had Lost in Space, Wild Wild Country, and now a show set in Mumbai called "Sacred Games"--while it's great for subscribers to have a wealth of new material to watch all the time, there may be an inflection point beyond which producing/acquiring more content doesn't grow their audience...

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Surprising how the ratio is so far reversed in India. Here in Canada (which is a similar market to the USA), Netflix is the cheapest option. Cable TV is several times more expensive for even a basic plan, and Amazon Prime costs about the same as Netflix (but includes the other Prime services).

The parent says that Netflix costs ₹500/mo in India, or $9.60 in Canadian dollars, which is almost exactly the price it costs in Canada. I wonder if Netflix prices their plans at approximately the same price worldwide to prevent arbitrage since people living in expensive countries could subscribe in cheap countries. (Netflix allows you to use your subscription worldwide when you're traveling -- so people could claim to be traveling.)

> I wonder if Netflix prices their plans at approximately the same price worldwide to prevent arbitrage since people living in expensive countries could subscribe in cheap countries. (Netflix allows you to use your subscription worldwide when you're traveling -- so people could claim to be traveling.)

Is the Netflix catalog the same worldwide? I was under the impression it varied based on the country your subscription was based in, due to licensing (different companies own the distribution rights for the same content in different countries).

If that's true, the problem you describe may not exist. An American trying to save money by subscribing to an Indian plan priced cheaper for the local market may just get Indian content, which may not be at all want he wants.

You're correct that the Netflix catalog is different for each country. However, the shows you're offered are based on your current location as determined by your IP address, and not according to where you bought the subscription. So the American subscribing to a cheaper Indian plan, would see the US catalog when he logs in from an ISP in the US, thus he would still get the shows he wanted and save money if the Indian plan was cheaper.

Content is based on your physical location. When traveling to US you will get US content regardless of your original country.

Check this graph[0] which shows total revenue per sim per month. India and Canada are mirror opposite.

[0]http://www.iphoneincanada.ca/carriers/wireless-carriers-high...

Prime is cheap because Amazon is still trying to acquire their market in India and can afford to lose money for a while. Contrary to what OP said, cable TV with HD, and most of the channels that a family would need is definitely more expensive than Netflix.

OP is comparing apples and oranges. Cable TV with less channels and no HD is cheaper maybe than Netflix. With all channels and proper HD it will be about same as Netflix price or more.

Netflix would be cheaper in India too but you have to take into account that not everyone can speak English there

Not only does this statement not make any clear sense (why does English speaking #s affect price of the service?) but India has the second largest English speaking population in the world.

Sure, but if you go to India right now I can assure you that you wouldn't be able to have a decent conversation with almost anyone not educated from a decent college, Im not sure what the degree of proficiency is from that figure you got over there but the extent of most peoples English would be pointing and using one or two relevant words, not making complete coherent sentences. Back to my original comment this is the reason why people in India dont subscribe to netflix, its a killer deal and less expensive than what they pay for cable (plus they can watch it on their laptop so - the cost of the TV too) but I guess they wouldn't be able to follow the storyline as clearly.

And about that not making sense, I meant that it would be cheaper than paying for cable TV

>but India has the second largest English speaking population in the world.

irrelevant when that equates to 10% of the population.

Can you explain why it's irrelevant? It's unclear to me how market size is impacted by the fact that there is a larger pool of people that aren't in the market.

That is probably the most insightful comment here. Who realizes india would have the second most. If Indian had the same income levels as the west the English market alone could challenge the US.

Pakistan here, its for 1k pkr/month here, and there aren't really that much programs in Hindi or Urdu so only people who speak good English (and have 1k/month to spare) can buy it. And there aren't any repercussions for torrenting and the internet generally sucks so..

I live in Bangalore and I feel I have no time to watch a "serious" show like sacred games or altered carbon. You really have to sit down and pay 100% attention to the show to fully understand what's going on. Contrast that to general Indian TV where I can take a pee break and come back and still understand everything. I didn't renew my prime and netflix subscription last month.

Also, for India, people miss the broadband cost. Because to consume Netflix, Prime you have to take into account the broadband. While as alternate media it is fine. It still can't replace cable TV. Not at this moment. It is still costly to replace all media consumption through data at this point. Once the broadband penetration and price fall further it will be different story.

More importantly, Hotstar is ₹999 per year right now and you get movies, TV shows including GoT and Westworld, live sports including IPL and F1.

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