While it is not known whether the popular US-based website will stream censored versions of TV shows and films there has been a steady increase in the number of subscribers since the service became available on January 6.

Bradley Freeman associate professor communication and information studies Mohammed bin Rashid School for Communications American University in Dubai (AUD) spoke to Muscat Daily about this much-awaited launch.

Are Netflix and others like it the future of entertainment? Will satellite dishes soon be a thing of the past?

I wouldn't take down the satellite dish (or even the so-called 'rabbit ear' antennas) just yet.

It is certainly true that online viewing is up in many locations. However there are still a few hurdles that need to be jumped before we can say that this is the way things will be.

For one it is telling that even in Netflix's 'global' announcement they still used the old terminology - using the term 'online TV network'. Also I would point out that a large number of users/viewers still do not have access to high speed broadband Internet. Some locations charge based on data-use - and the costs are not insignificant. If you look at the Philippines they have prepaid satellite TV where people purchase top up cards much like you would purchase a top up card for a prepaid mobile phone service. In some markets the idea of a monthly fee paid by credit card is not going to be feasible.

It is true that the 'digital divide' is narrowing but it certainly still exists. Netflix is hoping that the infrastructure will be good enough for their service to catch on with a certain number of users and the thing we know about the media industry is thisonce you make the productdistribution is key.

That is to say Netflix pays a certain amount to create a show. That is a fixed cost - it does not rise as more people view it. So the more viewers they can get - the better. Of course the issue of broadband connection and cost is a different matter. This is where they really need to ensure the strength of their servers.

Netflix also benefits from something known as the 'long tail' model of the Internet. That is to say once a media product is created it can be warehoused on the website in perpetuity.

This means that as time goes by the catalog grows and grows. Film companies have known for many years that your portfolio of films is an important aspect to their businesses. And so film companies have spent money to preserve their back catalog and to find ways to get it out to the public in ways that can benefit the business.

While English is used and understood widely people tend to prefer their native language when it comes to media content. They don't want to have to strain to understand the show - otherwise it's not as entertaining. Generally people don't want to have to 'work' to understand what should be a pleasurable entertaining media programme. So Netflix may need to figure out how to make local content - but here there will be an issue of quality control and understanding the markets they are now in.

Yes we live in a 'global village' but there are different neighbourhoods where the cultures are a bit different - we cannot simply say that when it comes to global media we are all the same. Not yet anyway.

Does the definition of 'sensitive material' change from one culture to another?

Let me just say that time and taste standards have always varied from community to community - that is to say country to country. Netflix is going to have to navigate these 'waters' carefully. Actually I was a bit surprised to learn that Netflix would be available in the Middle East region. For a few semesters I had lectured that government regulations and local economics were likely to keep Netflix out of these markets for a while - and as local operators started up and came into the market such as IC Flix I thought the demand might not necessarily be there - or that it would be a slow uptake. This is a case where the technology is leading or driving the roll out - not necessarily the demand. This is certainly interesting.

We are seeing widespread growth in media production the amount of media product is vastly outpacing the time available for consumption. Netflix is banking on the buffet style of pricing. That a consumer will pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to its library. I think that works in the short term but for a number of reasons I am not convinced in the long-term viability of this. Once the majority of films have been watched and shows consumed the challenge for Netflix will be to maintain a level of quality and to consistently come up with newer content to maintain growth in the long run.

There is a debate still in the media circles as to how each of the old traditional mediums will fare as the Internet comes to dominate the media space. That is to say if you look at recorded music will people prefer to buy and download individual songs or will they prefer to stream songs and pay a monthly fee? Newspapers are also dealing with questions of how to handle the business model moving forward.

This undoubtedly will not be the same for all media markets across the globe at the same time. For example radio is still strong in many countries especially in areas where Internet access is still being charged based on amount of data being used - rather than on an unlimited basis. The more people that subscribe to Netflix the greater the stress will be on the Internet's infrastructure. Netflix believes that this will not be a big problem moving forward. And for their business model to work they had better be right.

Are regulatory bodies throughout the world that monitor content facing new challenges?

I do not think they are becoming obsolete but I do think they need to catch up with global realities and create policies that are clear and consistent with their public and based on the time and taste standards of their locale. A number of countries are doing a good job with this - I would point to Singapore as a good model to examine. There they have set up a co-regulatory environment where there are inputs from government business and the community.

It is not perfect but it allows for community standards to be more quickly assessed and addressed. I have always lectured in my classes that there are two or three forces that governments need to understand concerning the media moving forward: globalisation digitalisation and regulation.

Is it becoming more difficult for parents to monitor what their children are exposed to?

Again this is why I felt that this global roll-out was really surprising. I would be further surprised if there is not some sort of backlash against this specific programming. Netflix I believe has stated that they are entertaining the idea that limits might be placed on programming. I for one was surprised that these were not automatically applied in certain locales.

To be fair it is certainly already possible for individuals to find this type of content in other forms online. So it is not as if Netflix invented the issue. At the same time being sensitive to different markets is what has often made the difference for other successful companies historically.

That being said media products are different from all others for a variety of reasons not least of which is that they are created by creative imaginative minds - and so the range of material that is created is going to be on a large spectrum. I can't believe that some modifications won't be forthcoming in some of their markets. Of course the argument that was used historically in the US for HBO was - you are subscribing to it. If you don't like it don't subscribe.

This topic is one rich for debate. And I do not think we have heard the last of it by a long shot. In my estimation Netflix has expanded very quickly - and they are going to need to figure out aspects of the markets where they now operate. For example they are going to need to start offices and hire people in specific cities at least to manage regions. I do not think they can operate solely from the historic media cities and still maintain good control.

Has media ever been used to subjugate people? Have studies been done on the effectiveness of media in forming opinions?

Well this is a topic that could take hours to explore and discuss. In the field of media research we have come to understand that the answer is 'it depends'. And what it depends on are a number of factorsthe list of which is too long for me to go into here. The entire field of media studies essentially began because parents were concerned about the effects that media might be having on their children. Even until this day the aspect of 'kids being in the audience' is still a powerful argument against a 'free for all' attitude in the distribution of media programming.

Nowadays the focus is a lot more on teaching media literacy to the younger generations as well as discussing with the media industry ways that they can self-rate and self-regulate their content. So there are ways that education can play a role in the process.

In addition there are many facets to media research that could be raised here. For example historically media programming was described in terms of its 'imperialistic' or 'colonialistic' powers. Media operators in smaller markets were using media products from the US and UK simply due to monetary constraints on creation of programming as well as a general lack of equipment and training to create local productions.

This is most definitely changing as we see a slow and steady shift of media content creation away from the Global North and towards a more balanced and representative style of the global marketplace. Look at the fact that media programmes such as the one we have at AUD are a relatively recent phenomenon in the educational environment. This will certainly impact the media content that gets produced moving forward.

That being said media does also act as a kind of 'soft cultural power' and the leaders of cutting edge TV programming have typically come from the US and the UK. And so audiences have come to expect this type of programming from these creators.

What are other important developments?

The online TV show creators Amazon included here are really ushering in a third golden age of television in a sense. What is becoming possible is quite amazing because the model is to create for a niche audience that can then sustain a programmethis is different from the way TV has historically workedwhere the goal was to attract a large general audienceand to attract advertisers who wished to reach those viewers.

Hollywood is still following this older model - and so this is why you are seeing actors going back into 'TV productions' because the artistic nature of newer TV shows cannot be denied. This also ultimately gets at the way advertising has historically worked versus the way data mining has improved and the way online advertising tracks and works. This raises the issue of how media is financed and what products get created and why - perhaps this is a topic for another article.