Netflix South Africa that launched on Wednesday night only has 678 titles available – compared to 14 156 globally.
So says the popular unblocking service UnoTelly that's used by people worldwide, as well as in South Africa and that costs around $5 per month (R80), to get access to Netflix's content and pay for it using another geographical location choice.
Netflix expanded to South Africa as well as a further 129 other countries simultaneously on Wednesday night but its South African launch offering is greatly truncated from what subscribers in the United States and places like the United Kingdom get.
Netflix's limited offering is due to broadcasting and pay-TV licensing rights, with the rights to most content already taken by pay-TV broadcasters like M-Net and pay-TV channels on MultiChoice's DStv, as well as recently launched competing video streaming services like Naspers' ShowMax and PCCW Global's ONTAPtv.com.
The smaller Netflix South Africa content offering makes it unlikely that people who've been accessing and paying for Netflix through the use of an unblocking service like UnoTelly for a bigger content selection will switch to the South African Netflix.
"Not all Netflix regions are created equally"
Priced in dollar with no plans to switch to currency support in South African rand, Netflix South Africa - that costs R126 ($7.99) - is already costing more per month due to currency fluctuations.
"The expansion is a great initiative to improve access to content in countries where Netflix wasn't available but not all Netflix regions are created equally," says UnoTelly in a statement.
"For example, Netflix South Africa has only 678 TV and movie titles available, compared to 14 156 TV and movie titles available right now across 24 Netflix regions."
