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The firm, known for its U.S. political thriller "House of
Cards", also plans to look at exporting content produced in
China to the rest of the world, Netflix's Chief Content Officer
Ted Sarandos told reporters at a talk in Shanghai on Monday.
Global firms are eyeing a slice of China's fast-growing
entertainment market, but have often faced a rocky reception.
Google Inc, YouTube, Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc have all been
blocked in the country.
"It's unlikely that we would definitely pursue (a local partner
model) as a strategy... These ventures become very complex and
very difficult to manage, and ultimately difficult to be
successful," said Sarandos.
Without a local partner, Netflix would need to obtain multiple
operating licenses on its own, something the firm has said
previously may be a potential hold-up.The firm would need around
eight different licenses to launch in China, Sarandos said,
adding that business in the country was "subject to a censorship
and regulatory environment that we haven't had to deal with."
The movie and TV streaming service faces competition from local
rivals, including Tencent Holdings Ltd and Alibaba Group Holding
Ltd, who are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to bring
foreign TV and films to China.
China's regulators are also imposing new licensing and quota
restrictions on foreign players and content in a move analysts
say will help the domestic television and film industry.
(Reporting by Sue-Lin Wong; Writing by Adam Jourdan; Editing by
Kavita Chandran)
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