Streaming service Netflix enters Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — Netflix, the popular on-demand video streaming service on Wednesday announced that it is expanding to 130 new countries, including the Philippines.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said the company is quickly becoming global and multilingual, adding Arabic, Korean, and simplified and traditional Chinese to the 17 languages it already supports.

“We’re at the start of a global revolution,” Hastings said.

Before the CES electronics show on Wednesday, Netflix was available in 60 countries and supported 17 languages. With the expansion, the video streaming service will now be available in 190 countries.

Other new counties added include Azerbaijan, Vietnam, India, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Turkey and Indonesia.

Hastings said China is now the only major country without Netflix but they are still considering adding it to its territory.

Netflix currently has no plans to push into North Korea, Syria or Crimea because of restrictions on U.S. companies operating in those countries. The company's service also may not be an immediate hit in several other major countries, including Russia, Turkey and Poland, where it will only be available in English.

Nevertheless, investors were delighted with Netflix's quantum leap across the globe. Its stock climbed $10.02, or 9 percent, to close at $117.68 on a grim day in the rest of the market.

The uptick in the shares reflects a belief that Netflix is now in a position to sign up more subscribers this year than analysts had previously anticipated, generating additional revenue that the company can spend on TV series and movies as it bids against rivals such as HBO, Amazon.com, YouTube and Hulu for licensing rights.

Netflix Inc. began the year with more than 70 million subscribers and management had already vowed to spend about $5 billion this year licensing video from studios around the world.

Increasingly, Netflix has been buying material that only can be seen on its service, with more than 600 hours of original programming lined up for this year. That slate encompasses more than 50 exclusive TV shows and movies, including award-winning series such as "House of Cards" and "Orange Is the New Black."

Although Netflix is now virtually worldwide, not of all its entertainment will be available everywhere. For instance, a prized licensing contract that gives Netflix the rights to Walt Disney films after their theatrical release will be limited to the U.S. and Canada as part of a deal negotiated several years ago. Hastings told reporters Wednesday that Netflix is hoping to expand those rights into other countries.

Netflix has come up with a formula that has proven addictive as its service has transformed the entertainment industry by allowing people to watch video anytime they want on an Internet-connected device. — with Michael Liedtke, Associated Press