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Hola guys, Netflix is about to pull the shutters down on proxy peeps

Folks using proxies to access Netflix content from other countries may soon find themselves unable to access that delicious overseas goodness. 

Over the next few weeks, Netflix will start employing measures to ensure that subscribers can only watch local content. 

Netflix’s vice president of content delivery architecture David Fullagar said: “Some members use proxies or “unblockers” to access titles available outside their territory. To address this, we employ the same or similar measures other firms do. 

Related: Sony hates on Netflix for not blocking VPN-toting, geo-hopping punters“This technology continues to evolve and we are evolving with it. That means in coming weeks, those using proxies and unblockers will only be able to access the service in the country where they currently are.”

Fullagar and Netflix spokespeople have declined to elaborate on what these measures may be, so it’s unclear if this will only affect people using VPNs like Hola as well as more hands-on workarounds, like manually inputting US DNS numbers. 

There appears to be a slight silver lining. Fullagar said that the streaming giant is exploring making all of its licensed content available in all Netflix territories: 

“We are making progress in licensing content across the world and, as of last week, now offer the Netflix service in 190 countries, but we have a ways to go before we can offer people the same films and TV series everywhere.

“Over time, we anticipate being able to do so. For now, given the historic practice of licensing content by geographic territories, the TV shows and movies we offer differ, to varying degrees, by territory.”

Having ‘a ways to go’ is putting it lightly. Licensing is an incredibly knotty issue, with distribution rights varying greatly from region to region. It’s theoretically possible that Netflix will be able to hammer out a deal with the Hollywood big six and other licensees but it’s going to take more than a few weeks, to put it mildly. 

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