Netflix boss predicts the end of broadcast TV

Netflix co-founder and CEO, Reed Hastings

Netflix CEO Reed Hasting has said that broadcast TV’s days are numbered.

The boss of the US-listed streaming service was speaking at a company event in Mexico this week when he made the bold proclamation that over the air TV will last another 16 years, suggesting it would become antiquated in the face of new platforms and services.

“Broadcast TV will probably last until 2030,” Hastings said in Mexico. He said broadcast was “kind of like the horse — you know, the horse was good until we had the car”.

Cable reaches about 100 million homes in the US although traditional pay TV subscriber numbers are in decline. There are about 125 million TV homes in total.

Netflix has expanded rapidly this year, launching in a swathe of European territories and announcing an Australian roll-out, which will take place early next year. In its domestic US market, it had 37.2 million customers at last count and internationally, reported 15.8 million.

Netflix also broke out Lat-Am specific customer numbers for the first time at the Mexico press event, saying it had topped the five million mark. It usually reports an overall international subscriber and customer number and it marked the first time it had given region-specific numbers for Latin America.