This is Netflix's first expansion outside of the U.S. and will mark the company's first streaming-only service offering (i.e., it has no tie-in with the traditional disc by mail rental program) to customers.
Netflix has flirted with international expansion in the past, however, its plans were previously scrapped in order to focus on its core US market.
Yet as more of Netflix's core business moves away from traditional disc rentals and into digital streaming services, expansion into other markets becomes less challenging from a logistical standpoint. Securing licensing agreements for programming and content is still an ongoing challenge, but by focusing on a streaming-only plan, Netflix can highlight its strengths and eschew the more expensive and infrastructure-laden mail distributions centers.
This move also prevents Netflix from going head to head against Zip.ca, which is essentially the Canadian mashup of Netflix and Redbox.
Netflix says that Netflix Canada will be only available in English at launch, but that it expects to add French language support over time.
It also looks like the service will be supported on Macs and PCs, as well as the myriad of Netflix-capable consumer electronics devices.
In the U.S., Netflix offers a plan with unlimited streaming movies and TV shows alongside its basic one-at-a-time rental service for $8.95 a month. Canadian pricing hasn't been revealed, but we expect it will be the same. It's unclear if the current Netflix Watch Instantly library will be coming to Canada or if there will be localized changes. We've reached out to Netflix to find out details related to these issues and will update our report when we hear back.
If you are in Canada and you want to get in on the Netflix-loving action, go to http://www.netflix.ca and sign-up to be notified as soon as Netflix Canada becomes available!