Fans of the online video streaming service Netflix have been told by one of the company’s senior executives not to hold their breath when it comes to downloading shows for offline viewing.
Speaking to TechRadar, Netflix’s director of corporate communications and technology, Cliff Edwards, said giving viewers the ability to download shows to watch offline was “never going to happen”.
Edwards said calls by users of the service to add the functionality, common to similar services such as BBC iPlayer and 4oD, ignored the bigger issue of Wi-Fi access and quality. He said offline downloads merely provided a temporary fix to the bigger problem of ensuring the tech infrastructure to enable online streaming in public areas was in place.
Netflix recently confirmed it is launching in Australia and New Zealand, with the internet movie and subscription service starting up in March 2015.
Netflix says Australian users will be able to subscribe to Netflix and instantly watch a curated selection of popular movies and TV shows in high-definition or 4K where available.
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