Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL) has offered its customers a NIS 30 credit upon presentation of an invoice from the purchase of Netflix's content services, according to conversations with Cellcom's customer service center. Following the report, Netflix checked whether Cellcom's offer was coordinated with it, and whether the appropriate approvals had been obtained.
Netflix has now made an official announcement that only Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR) is entitled to market Netflix in Israel. Netflix Cellcom's offer was unacceptable and that it is investigating the matter. Cellcom, however, has defied Netflix and is continuing with the offer, insisting that it is legal.
Cellcom had notified customers that had no open converters that it could not provide the service through its ordinary converter, and that customers would have to either switch from the converter to an Xiaomi streamer or download the application and view Netflix through it. Customers with smart televisions can download the application in the ordinary way to their television devices and order the service directly from Netflix. In this case, Cellcom will give customers a NIS 30 credit upon presentation of an invoice from Netflix.
The new offer marks a change in Cellcom's method of operation, since it seems that at this point, Cellcom is unable to put Netflix on its converters. Cellcom realizes that it must find a way to connect with Netflix, because there are customers interested in Netflix as a content provider.
The reason why Cellcom is offering Netflix in this way was because competition is having an effect, and Cellcom recognized that Netflix was now a product that a television provider must supply to its customers. The automatic inclusion of Netflix in the content package, as Partner does, for example, has forced Cellcom to try and adjust to the new model.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on February 22, 2018
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