Netflix coy on Spain launch talk

Netflix has reportedly denied renewed talk it will launch a subscription on-demand service in Spain next year.

An executive at tech manufacturer Toshiba this week told a company event Netflix had confirmed it was launching in the territory, news that was widely reported in the local press.

However, Netflix’s head of global communications Jonathan Freidland subsequently told tech website Gizmodo Spain no launch plan had been announced and that the information was “not correct”.

A Netflix spokesman told TBI this morning: “We have not announced any intention to offer our service in Spain and have nothing to say at this time.”

Various reports going back as far as August 2011 have linked Netflix to Spanish launches, and local distributors are known to have been in contact with the US streaming giant over rights.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings (pictured) said in September Netflix would establish its new services in France, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Luxembourg and Switzerland before looking at southern Europe, which includes Spain, and further afield.

Hastings wants Netflix to be a global service within five years.