Netflix is considering letting users download shows to watch offline

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We are all looking forward to watching a movie on Netflix after a day’s work. It’s easy: at home, the internet connection is secure, fast and unlimited. But what if you want to watch movies on Netflix on the go and the Internet connection is not working properly?

This should be no problem in the future. If you download your favorite movie, you could watch it offline, according to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings:

We should keep an open mind on all this… as we expand around the world where we see an uneven set of networks, it’s something we should keep an open mind about.

Netflix is one of the most popular services to watch movies online and has recently expanded in more than 130 countries. However, the Internet connection does not work smoothly everywhere. Actually, the differences in the Internet connection quality across countries may be the main argument for such a decision in the future. There are countries where Internet bandwith is a real issue and users could not properly benefit from their Netflix subscription.

Downloading their favorite movies at home to watch them on the go could be the answer. But if Netflix accepts such a practice in slow Internet connection countries, let’s say, why should it not allow all its users to do the same?

By allowing users to download content for offline use, Netflix would adapt its policy to the market trend. Services such as Amazon Video and YouTube (in some  regions of the world) let their users download content.

There is also another issue: how long should the content be available for offline use? It cannot be available indefinitely. Such a feature will most likely come with time limitations that will vary, depending on Netflix’s content partners.

Since there are so many variables to take into account for such a decision, you should not expect this feature to be available soon. Netflix is taking this option into consideration, but we think that at least a year will pass until we hear news of advancement in this direction.

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