Netflix goes live in 130 countries, including Russian Federation and India

Kicking off the day at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with his keynote address, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said the Los Gatos-based company had activated service in 130 more countries, including Russia, India, South Korea and Saudi Arabia.

Netflix switched on its video streaming services in 130 new countries today including most, if not all of Africa, meaning it’s now available just about everywhere on Earth as part of a plan to be a global TV network in 2016, NewYorkTimes reported.

While English is the main language for most of the new markets, Netflix said it has added support for Arabic and Korean, along with simplified and traditional Chinese to the 17 languages it now uses.

Due to Singapore’s strict censorship requirements, Netflix has previously said that some shows available on its service might not be available to local subscribers.

“We’re looking forward to bringing great stories from all over the world to people all over the world”, Hastings said.

The company announced new original content launching in 2016, including a film by Australian director Baz Luhrmann and a series about Queen Elizabeth called The Crown.

Netflix reaffirmed in a press release that it “continues to explore options for providing the service” in China.

Period dramas have played well on TV lately and Netflix will be hoping to capitalize on the popularity of PBS’s “Downton Abbey“, which is available on DVD from Netflix but not streamed.

Increasingly, Netflix has been buying material that only can be seen on its service, with more than 600 hours of original programming lined up for this year.

Already a major contributor to the current changes in the U.S. TV industry, now Netflix looks to make an even bigger move globally.

The new expanded countries include India, and Netflix will offer services for $7.48 to $11.98 per month. With this new expansion, it’s moving aggressively into markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East as well. It will take a while for Netflix to build subscribers in the countries where it has launched (at its last results, it reported 69 million paying subscribers from a year-ago 53 million). According to the Netflix Portal that consumers will not be charged until after their free trial ends. “We have that luxury thanks to the Internet”, Sarandos said, explaining that the IP distribution model allows Netflix to distribute its shows to where people are and when they want to watch them.