Why I'm looking forward to Netflix in India

Netflix is set to announce its India entry at CES Las Vegas next week. As of now, all we know is that the company will partner with a telecom player to stream its content over 4G. If this comes to pass, the Indian television industry should brace itself for some tough times.

Founded in 1997 but truly taking off in the last five years, Netflix is the global leader in on-demand Internet streaming today. With close to 70 million subscribers, the company has made a name for its high-quality programming. Its shows such as Orange Is The New Black, about a group of female prison inmates, and House of Cards, about a ruthless politician who rise to the US presidency, are bywords for quality.

Its success has prompted other players such as Amazon Video and Hulu to get into the game. So far, Amazon Video, part of the Amazon Prime package for annual subscription-paying customers, has been clocking impressive growth with shows like Transparent, about a transgender Jewish woman who has lived all her life as a man and decides to transition at 60.

The format of Internet streaming is especially popular with the youth because all episodes of a season are available to download together, allowing binge watching and rapid-fire commentary on social media. This has also ensured that shows cannot be tweaked, and thus diminished, by audience feedback. As any viewer of Indian daily shows will attest, characters regularly die and are reborn because the aunties' demographic loved them too much to let them go.

The rise of Netflix in the West has showcased how viewers are willing to pay for original content. The company charges about $9 for a month's subscription, which translates to a meagre Rs 600, and this price is expected to fall further for Indian audience. With rising Internet penetration back home and the success of video streaming services like YouTube, Netflix can hope to be a significant player in the game.

The poor quality of Indian television is a tale told ad infinitum. After 2000, when the Star and Ekta Kapoor alliance took off, we had a slew of daily soaps with the most regressive storylines wrapped in gaudy prosperity. Women conspired against one another and the men, in a nice if tragically executed reversal of gender roles, looked on in wonder. The loser was the discerning Indian viewer, who sneaked himself some me-time on reruns of old shows on Star World or went straight to Internet to pirate current seasons.

Zee TV launched Zindagi about a year and a half ago, and that channel, which beamed Pakistani shows into our drawing rooms, quickly became a sensation. Its shows were thoroughly south Asian, concerned with family, responsibilities and social obligations, yet they were executed with a pleasing subtlety. Viewers lapped them up, and the channel quickly expanded its lineup to include dubbed version of cookery shows from the US and one particularly well-done serial from Turkey called Feriha.

Now the channel is getting into original content with shows like Bhaage Re Mann and Aadhe Adhoore. The success of these latest ventures is hard to predict, but they too seem to follow the Zindagi template: strong storylines and restrained acting. What cannot be denied is the Indian audience's hunger for good content. It is this huge gap that Netflix is hoping to tap.

As of now, the expectation is that the company will stream already existing content for Indian viewers. In other markets, the company also provides a library of movies. Whether it will ultimately tweak its content for the Indian market remains to be seen. It is reasonable to assume that it will include some Indian films in its library for Indian audience, and may perhaps even consider Indian programming at a later date should the service take off in India.

All said, these are welcome tidings for Indian television. The medium has stagnated after it saw some hectic activity in the early 2000s on the back of new shows and Star upending the game with Kaun Banega Crorepati. Colors, launched with much fanfare in 2008, has done well financially, yet its content is hardly different from that on offer on other channels. Innovation in content has been given the miss.

In this milieu, the launch of Netflix is certain to shake the system. The urban middle class is eager for fresh content that they do not have to resort to piracy to watch. Besides, not just content, the distribution model of going straight to the viewer is certain to give sleepless nights to existing television players. Exciting times ahead!