Netflix could offer a much-requested offline viewing mode by the end of the year. A new report from LightReading indicates the streaming service’s work on an offline viewing option is an “open secret” within the streaming community.
The information comes from Dan Taitz, COO of mobile video company Penthera.
“We know from our sources within the industry that Netflix is going to launch this product,” says Taitz. “My expectation is that by the end of the year Netflix will be launching download-to-go as an option for their customers.”
Last month, company CEO Reed Hastings suggested the company was considering an offline viewing of its content, when he said on an earnings call that the company should “keep an open mind” about the offline video model.
The biggest obstacle for any offline viewing mode for Netflix content would be copyright issues for the downloaded films and television shows. While the company will of course be able to allow downloading of all of its own original content to its heart’s content, they’ll need to deal on a studio-by-studio basis for content they’d want to allow downloading of.
While Netflix Chief Product Officer, Neil Hunt, had previously indicated the streaming company didn’t consider offline viewing of content to be a major consideration for the firm, rival streamers Amazon and YouTube Red already offer the ability to download videos for offline viewing.
