Netflix signs Belgian carriage deal

Telco Belgacom has signed a carriage deal with Netflix, at the same time as it begins to group all of its Belgacom and Proximus products together under the Proximus brand.

The Belgian telco announced today that its customers will be able to watch House of Cards platform Netflix directly via Proximus TV later this year.

Belgacom said it will start to install the Netflix app on new-generation Proximus TV decoders at the end of 2014 and will eventually roll it out to all Proximus TV customers.

Netflix launched in Belgium earlier this month as part of latest round of European expansions. In the same week, it also rolled out to Luxembourg, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

“Netflix is without doubt a new player which has been very eagerly awaited; I’m proud to announce this partnership which reflects the dynamics of our new brand and enables us to offer an amazing experience to our customers on Proximus TV,” said Belgacom’s chief consumer market officer Phillip Vandervoort.

Separately, Belgacom has from today established Proximus as its main commercial brand, a change that company CEO Dominique Leroy described as “a fundamental part of our growth strategy”.

The firm, which first said it would make Proximus its sole main brand back in March, said that the change made sense as fixed, mobile and IT technologies increasingly converge.

“The company can combine different services in an optimal way to serve its customers – both consumers and small and large organisations – anytime and anywhere. It doesn’t matter whether that is via a TV, smartphone, tablet, PC or another device. And with Proximus as the overarching brand, the company’s communication to customers about that offer will also become much simpler,” said Belgacom.

Changes, such as a new Proximus TV interface, will be rolled out over the coming weeks. Belgacom has also launched a new Proxiums logo and ‘always close’ tagline.