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Finally, Australians are no longer being treated as an afterthought.
The launch of Netflix on Tuesday signals a new kind of consumer war: one in which rival streaming services will compete through convenience, quality programs and low prices.
Until now, the attitude of our broadcasters has been: How much can we get away with? How long can we keep local viewers waiting for new shows? How many ads can we squeeze in? How long can we run over schedule?
You can't blame these businesses for trying to maximise their profit. But this model – in which broadcasters do things entirely their way – is now struggling.
Consider Orange Is The New Black, a critical and commercial smash. When the first season launched in 2013, the rest of the world binged-watched it on Netflix. Australians were forced to wait for its debut on pay TV – where it screened at the rate of one episode per week.
Eventually, the show made it to iTunes – yet even now, only the first season is there.
Is it any wonder we're among the worst illicit downloaders on the planet?
"The motion picture and television industry used the internet to market their shows and their movies all over the world," says Jonathan Friedland, Netflix's chief communications officer. "Then they held back distribution in order to maximise profitability – and the net result is piracy.
"The days of people being relegated to second-class citizenry on the basis of commercial interests is over."
On June 12, Netflix will launch season three of Orange Is The New Black in the US and in Australia. Every single episode. For the first time, local viewers can binge on it with the rest of the world. (The first two seasons will also be available at launch, for those yet to catch up.)
Foxtel has just announced that it will make all of season three available to its viewers on June 12, too.
Indeed, Netflix has a policy of not withholding any of the shows it makes itself. When a program debuts in one country, it debuts everywhere. Which means if there's a fourth season of House of Cards – another acclaimed Netflix original series – we won't have to wait for that, either.
Nor will Australians be biding their time for other fresh Netflix shows, including Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (a comedy co-created by Tina Fey, available at launch); Marvel's Daredevil (a live action comic book adaptation starring Charlie Cox, launching April 10); Grace & Frankie (a show about "frenemies", played by Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, launching May 8); BoJack Horseman (an animated comedy starring Will Arnett, available at launch); Marco Polo (based on the famed explorer's adventures, available at launch); Bloodline (a psychological thriller starring Australian Ben Mendelsohn, available at launch); and Sense8 (a dramatic thriller about eight people who suddenly become mentally and emotionally linked, launching June 5). It remains to be seen, however, how much of its non-original programming Netflix makes available to Australian audiences.
Here's where things really get good. Like its rival streaming services – including Presto, Stan* and Quickflix – Netflix has no ads. It starts at just $8.99 a month: you could subscribe to three of these services and still have loose change from $30. All are competing to be as user-friendly as possible. Best of all, quality content is their chief weapon.
If you ask viewers to pay – even a monthly fee no more than couple of coffees – you have to make it worth their while.
All these services have vast back catalogues of excellent shows. It's the new programs, however, that are most exciting.
Netflix has already proven itself to be a purveyor of high-quality scripted content. Stan* has responded by announcing it will make its own quality Australian shows, including a series based on the Wolf Creek movies and a political drama called Enemies of the State.
This is a new era. One in which Australians can finally watch – legally, cheaply, and conveniently – all those "golden age of television" shows we hear so much about.
*Stan is a joint venture between the Nine Entertainment Co. and Fairfax Media, which publishes this site.
Here is the Netflix catalogue in pictures:
