"Stay tuned" is the official word on whether shows like House of Cards will be available when they launch in New Zealand.

The online streaming giant is due to launch here in March with more details to be announced in the coming weeks.

Netflix’s Cliff Edwards says it will be considered “Netflix lite” compared to the US service.

“We have never said we’ll have all of the content. We are at the end of the day a curated platform just as every other platform is – there’s never going to be a one stop shop for people.”

But going forward they say each new original show will be available on the same date globally including in New Zealand. 

And he isn’t ruling out shows which are already locked up in distribution deals here being available soon on the platform.

When asked specifically about House of Cards, the acclaimed Netflix Original series starring Kevin Spacey which has previously aired on TV3 here, he is keeping things under wraps.

“We have always said that we’d love to get any show that is considered a Netflix original back into the fold, so I would just say stay tuned.”

Netflix is also bringing their movie catalogue to the platform on launch and Mr Edwards says they’ll have a better selection of movies here than any of their other launch countries.

“We have longstanding relationships with the movie studios, and we’ve worked really hard to bring a lot of great content like the Disney deal, like others that we’ll be announcing in the coming weeks.”

While the content may be considered Netflix lite, the delivery platform won’t.

On launch, Mr Edwards says they’ll be on all the same platforms that are available in the US - that includes Android, iOS, game consoles, Apple TV, and smart TV apps.

“From day one, when we launch you’ll see Netflix on smart televisions, on game consoles, on tablets, on smartphones, on just about every device that connects to the internet and has a screen.”

No plans to crack down on NZ users on US Netflix

Netflix doesn’t have any set plans to stop New Zealanders using virtual private networks (VPNs) or users with Global Mode to access the US catalogue.

Selected ISPs have been offering Global Mode as a way for customers to sign up to Netflix US without needing to live state-side.

Slingshot yesterday also announced they’ve set up Global Mode switching, to allow customers to choose whether they want to access other international Netflix sites.

On top of that, there are other methods of accessing the site which is geo-blocked.
Mr Edwards says it’s hard to track.

“It really is like playing a game of whack-a-mole – you say it’s against our terms of service and you could easily just change your IP address.”

He thinks by launching in New Zealand, they’ll bring people over to the local site because they’ll have the same content.

“We think by going global that we can shrink that audience of VPNers because they’re going to get that content like everybody else does.”

But while Slingshot General Manager Taryn Hamilton welcomes the local platform, he thinks users will still want to access the international Netflix catalogues.

“Because initially the Netflix New Zealand content is likely to be weaker than overseas catalogues, users will want to switch to alternative regions to get the content they want.”

And despite coming late to the game in New Zealand, Cliff Edwards still believes they can take a big chunk of the market.

Spark’s Lightbox platform launched last year, while Sky TV’s NEON launched over the weekend and Quickflix has been available in New Zealand for a number of years.

But Mr Edwards says while competition is great for consumers, they have a superior product.

“We spend a lot of time working on things like the recommendation engine, we spend a lot of time having our engineers work on the user interface so that you always have something to watch.”