Netflix's Utopian Plan to Conquer the World

Netflix’s New Year’s resolution for 2016 was to become truly global, and it pretty much fulfilled the goal before the year was even a week old. As Reed Hastings, the company’s chief executive, was giving his keynote address at CES, Netflix flipped the switch on 130 countries. Netflix is now worldwide, with China being the only notable exception.

It will also be universal. Instead of tailoring its service for each country, Netflix aspires to become a single Internet-based TV network that's identical for viewers in Ireland, Israel, Iran or Indonesia. It’s a bold move based on two very optimistic assumptions: that Netflix can re-order the way media companies dole out rights to their television shows and movies, and that its algorithms are more powerful than the cultural differences between humans living in different countries.