Netflix to go international in 2011?

Over at Cnet, Don Reisinger is reporting that Netflix is positioning itself for international expansion. The service finally made the jump from the U.S. to Canada this year, and CEO Reed Hastings has said that move "has provided us with very encouraging signs regarding the potential for the Netflix service internationally." Spokesperson Steve Swasey recently told a CBC interviewer "based on the early success of Netflix.ca we're going to continue our international expansion next year and we're going to allocate significant dollars to it."

Netflix has been extremely successful in transforming itself from a video-by-mail service into one of the key players in video on demand. Hastings admits that Netflix's focus has shifted to streaming, and that it's time to begin looking outside North America. According to AdWeek, the company is now having exploratory discussions with advertising and media agencies around the globe to lay the groundwork their next expansion.

The company, of course, will have competitors to deal with overseas -- like the very popular Lovefilm in Europe. How Netflix will fare there -- as opposed to Canada where the service had no real competition -- remains to be seen.

Tags: apps, expansion, international, movies, netflix, reed hastings, ReedHastings, streaming, streaming video, StreamingVideo, tv, tv shows, TvShows, video, video on demand, VideoOnDemand, web