Netflix Launches In The UK – Will You Switch From LoveFilm?

Written by John Thompson on January 9, 2012 · Filed under Internet, TV/Movies 

After years of uncertainty and waiting whilst we watched our friends on the other side of the pond enjoy streaming services, Netflix has finally launched in the UK and Ireland! From today, anyone can head over to the Netflix website and sign up for a month’s trial completely free of charge so that you can try out its services and see what the company has to offer on its UK movie catalogue.

Once you’ve signed up, you will be able to choose from a catalogue of both movies and TV shows, although the content appears to be somewhat limited at first glance, perhaps due to content already tied up in contracts with LoveFilm. Whether content providers will choose to add more shows and movies to the service in due course, and how many may be added, is yet to be seen.

For fans of British television, launch shows include favourites such as The Only Way Is Essex. Fans of US television will appreciate series such as Prison Break, which was hugely successful during its run in both America and the UK. Once your free trial ends, you will then have to pay £5.99 or €6.99 per month for the streaming service.

Thanks to Netflix’s vast array of existing applications, you will be able to stream video content straight to most of your devices including your smartphone, tablet, laptop and TV. Boxee has also announced that it is working together with Netflix to provide an application on the Boxee Box for UK customers at some point in the future, although specifics haven’t been offered by either party as of yet.

Thanks to Facebook integration, you will be able to access movie and TV show recommendations from your friends on the social network, and similar to how Spotify integration works on Facebook, your friends will be able to see what movies and TV shows you have been watching in their notifications area.

Over time, Netflix will be able to recommend content for you to view, both in movies and TV shows, based on your viewing history in the past. For those without social networking this will definitely be appreciated, as the service will be able to recommend shows that their friends might be watching without actually having to link their accounts to Facebook. This will mainly be based on the genre which you tend to watch the most, so if you watch a lot of science fiction movies over time, Netflix will begin to recommend other similar titles to you.

Finally, there is also a “Just for Kids” section that consists of movies and TV shows aimed at children. A lot of the TV content here will come from Disney and Nickelodeon, so kids watching through Netflix will already be familiar with a lot of the shows which are on offer.

Unfortunately, Netflix doesn’t seem to have the same queueing ability in the UK as it does in the States, but hopefully this is something that the development team will implement over time. If you want to sign up for the free Netflix trial, then you can do so by going to the Netflix website and going through the motions. Let us know what you think in the comments if you decide to have a go, especially in comparison to LoveFilm!