Ask LH: Are All My Favourite Netflix Movies About To Disappear?

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

[credit provider=”Lionsgate” url=”http://www.lionsgate.com/”]

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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