Japanese telecom SoftBank will sell Netflix directly from devices at launch

Netflix gets the upper hand in Japan from telecom giant SoftBank

By Chris Leo Palermino Published August 24, 2015

When Netflix launches in Japan on September 2, it’ll have some major help from cell phone and internet giant SoftBank. Today, the video streamer announced a new partnership which will allow SoftBank’s 37 million cell phone customers to pay Netflix’s monthly fee directly through their SoftBank account in-store, online, or through major electronics retailers. The telecom giant will also begin pre-installing the Netflix app on its smartphones next month.

“Now, we have a shared dream to work together, SoftBank and Netflix, to find those amazing stories around the world, create new incredible experiences and deliver them to consumers around the globe and here in Japan,” said Netflix exec Greg Peters to the Japan Times.

Recommended Videos

The popular video streamer announced three monthly subscription options for Japanese customers: a standard definition, single stream “basic plan” for 650 JPY (~$5.49), an HD “standard plan” for 950 JPY (~$8.02), and a 4K UHD four stream “premium” family plan for 1450 JPY (~$12.24).

Netflix’s launch in Japan comes as the streaming giant aims to reach “200 countries” by the end of next year. The streamer currently operates in 50 countries, according to Fortune, has tallied 65 million customers globally, and could reach 100 million subscribers by 2020. Japanese subscription video streaming competitors include Hulu (which has 1 million Japanese subscribers) as well as services from NTT Domoco, and SoftBank’s own Uula. SoftBank will be focusing its efforts on Netflix going forward, according to the Japan Times.

Netflix may also consider a content partnership with SoftBank in Japan, although it has already inked an original content deal with Fuji Television. According to Deadline, Fuji has a new version of reality series Terrace House and a “coming-of-age drama” Atelier (Underwear) planned to premiere on Netflix Japan at launch.

Chris Leo Palermino

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Chris Leo Palermino is a music, tech, business, and culture journalist based between New York and Boston. He also contributes…

Topics

Audio / Video

Stop joining group projects with a blurry laptop webcam and buy one of these instead

Your laptop webcam is sabotaging your first impression. These five can fix it

I'm holding my Logitech C920 1080p webcam in my hands.

The webcam built into your laptop might be good enough for a quick call with friends and family. But its shortcomings become much harder to ignore when you are presenting a semester project, interviewing for an internship, or maybe if you're planning to stream for fun.

Laptop cameras also tend to sit far too low, especially when the computer is placed directly on a desk. Meanwhile, a dedicated webcam lets you position the camera closer to eye level. This improves the framing and brings larger sensors, better microphones, and more effective low-light processing.

Audio / Video

I desperately want a new classic Walkman, but Sony probably can’t give me one

Tech minimalism is begging for a new Walkman. Though rebuilding it may be close to impossible

Sony Walkman WM2011

Every few months, another piece of tech that seems obsolete crawls out of a drawer and becomes cool again. The age of minimalism has revived the popularity of iPods among younger buyers. Dumbphones have become an escape hatch from endless notifications. Similarly, digital cameras are dangling from bags again. Physical media keeps attracting people who want something they can actually hold instead of another frustrating subscription.

All of this makes it the perfect time for Sony to bring back the classic Walkman, which was a phenomenon during the 80s and 90s. I would love one. Give me a compact cassette player, physical buttons, and wired headphones. Keep the apps, notifications, and algorithms that shape your taste of music. No more AI assistants or personalzied feeds, just you and your Walkman. There is only one problem though. Recreating the Walkman that people love and remember, would be far harder than putting an old design back into production.

Audio / Video

Proton reveals how smart TVs track you and the escape situation is pretty grim

Modern smart TVs fingerprint your screen content at the chipset level.

Google TV applications on the Sony A95K TV.

Your smart TV may know far more about your viewing habits than you realize, even if you rarely use its smart features. In a new privacy explainer, Proton warns that many modern TVs quietly collect data about everything displayed on the screen and share it with manufacturers, advertisers, and analytics companies.

The worrying part is that escaping this tracking is becoming increasingly difficult because many privacy controls are buried deep in settings or enabled by default. Proton argues that buying a smart TV today often means accepting a level of surveillance that most people never knowingly signed up for.