Netflix is going offline and portable very soon

Vaughn Highfield June 24, 2016

When you meet someone who doesn’t have a Netflix subscription and doesn’t understand your House of Cards, Bojack Horseman and Orange is the New Black references, it’s unnerving. In fact, the only thing souring Netflix and its ability to let you binge-watch episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race and Arrested Development is the fact you always have to have an internet connection.

Netflix is going offline and portable very soon

Well, if Netflix’s plans pan out, that won’t be the case for much longer.

According to Gizmodo, Netflix is working on a “download-and-go” video feature, similar to that of BBC iPlayer and Amazon Prime Video. While there have been whisperings around such a feature for a while, industry sources confirmed its impending arrival to LightReading, a communications trade publication.

It seems that the COO of Penthera – a mobile video company – and an analyst at Frost & Sullivan have corroborated the rumour, stating that it’s an “open secret” in the industry.

Bringing video downloading to Netflix would certainly be a welcome addition. It will mean no more worrying whether you’ll have enough signal on your train journey to watch the latest season of Bloodlines, or filling your iPad up with dubiously acquired films for that long plane flight. As Gizmodo points out, Netflix is late to the game if it makes the move into offline video, but its 81-million-strong userbase gives it the clout to really change how we digest on-demand content.

The biggest issue in the way of Netflix’s offline plans is what will happens with content rights and crossing borders. If Amazon can find a way around the issue, it’s likely Netflix will too.