Dear Lifehacker, I just read a news report on an Australian tech site that said Netflix will be losing a bunch of content this month. Apparently, around 80 movies and TV shows are set to disappear. The same story is appearing on multiple Aussie sites. Are these reports accurate? If I lose access to Around The Twist, I’m going to flip out! Jennings Freak
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Dear JF,
Yes and no. In the US, Netflix decided to end its licensing agreement with the cable channel Epix which will see a swathe of titles permanently removed from the service. Movies on the chopping block include The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Wolf of Wall Street, Transformers: Age of Extinction, World War Z, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Rugrats in Paris: The Movie and Apocalypse Now.
So how does this affect Australians? In short; hardly at all. Most of the stories you saw were written in the US and picked up through an international news feed with minimal subbing — one of the pitfalls of global publishing. For most Aussies, this news is entirely irrelevant, although there are some local Netflix users who will be affected. (We’ll get to that in a moment.)
But first, the good news: if you’re using an Australian Netflix account you have absolutely nothing to worry about. The Epix decision does not affect the local streaming service in the slightest. Your favourite movies and TV shows aren’t going anywhere.
Netflix Australia has gone on record promising that its existing library will remain available to users indefinitely. Doubtlessly this will change once the service amasses more titles, but for now everything is staying put. This includes obscure and unpopular stuff that only weirdos enjoy. Hurrah!
Of course, this is assuming you have an Australian account. If you joined the US version via a VPN provider, the change is obviously going to affect you too. The Epix titles will be phased out over the rest of the month, so start binge-watching now. (You can see the full list of soon-to-be-MIA movies and TV shows over at Business Insider.)
When the dust clears, you can take solace in the fact that your library will still be substantially larger than the Australian version. So you can continue to lord it over your non-VPN using buddies; just at a slightly diminished level.
Cheers
Lifehacker
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Comments
14 responses to “Ask LH: Are All My Favourite Netflix Movies About To Disappear?”
Correction,
When you say our ‘Your favourite movies and TV shows aren’t going anywhere.’, it’s more that our favourite movies and TV shows aren’t even on there yet…
Or just use Unblock-Us and change region if you can’t find what you want.
Are you throwing shade at Around the Twist? Come at me, bro.
I was throwing shade at myself; I watch stuff like Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau and Rubber.
I think it’s worth noting that the movies and TV shows on Netflix changes all the time – it’s the nature of the beast. No one should get to attached to anything on Netflix, as it may be removed at any time in the future.
Stuff comes and goes from netflix all the time. Nothing new really
Movies and TV shows are added and removed from Netflix all the time, sometimes from one country’s library to the other. That is the reason why I use a service called PureVPN to expand my Netflix library and watch movies on Netflix US, Netflix UK, Netflix Canada and 25 other Netflix versions using my existing Netflix account. It helps me extract EVERY LAST DROP out of my Netflix subscription 😉
Does PureVPN actually put your Netflix traffic through a VPN?
“The Epix titles will be phased out over the rest of the month.”
“Netflix Australia has gone on record promising that its existing library will remain available to users indefinitely”
“if you’re using an Australian Netflix account you have absolutely nothing to worry about”
“a swathe of titles permanently removed from the service”
I’m not clear on what this actually means. If I have a Netflix Australia account, without using a VPN to access Netflix US, will I still be able to see movies like Catching Fire and Wolf of Wall Street in my movie list?
Some parts of the article say “yes they will be removed” and others say “no, nothing is changing”.
Do you live in Australia? No change.
Have you intentionally changed your setup to trick Netflix into thinking you are in the US? It will change.
Wolf of Wall St isn’t even on Aus netflix is it?
Is there somewhere that Netflix publishes stuff that is disappearing that month so I can watch anything I’m interested in?
CNet do a monthly roundup in their Netpicks section. It’s US based so may not be relevant to what you want.
http://www.cnet.com/netpicks/
I recently started watching US netflix, so very relevant. Ta.
The change only affects you if you’re using a US account via a VPN provider. Normal Australian accounts will remain unchanged.
Has nothing to do with where your account is, but if you’re accessing US or Australian Netflix.