LAS VEGAS ― Netflix, the world’s largest video-streaming service with over 70 million subscribers, on Wednesday announced it was launching its service globally, bringing its Internet TV network to more than 130 new countries, including Korea.

The announcement was made by the company’s cofounder and CEO Reed Hastings during his keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. 


“Today you are witnessing the birth of a new global Internet TV network,” he said. “With the help of the Internet, we are putting power in consumers’ hands to watch whenever, wherever and on whatever device.”

Netflix’s Korean launch comes as part of the company’s Asian push in recent months. The company launched its first Asian service in Japan in September.

Greg Peters, chief streaming and partnerships officer, said the company would seek to increase ties with Korean partners ranging from TV-makers such as Samsung and LG to Internet-TV operators.

“Korea is an amazing content creation and content consumption market and great stories come from Korea,” he said, adding that the company had keen interest not just in distributing Korean content around the world, but also in producing them with creative artists.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)