Did Frank Underwood order Netflix to enter Cuba?
Iliyan Stoychev tries to find the reason and logics behind Netflix’s recent launch in Cuba. His investigation leads to some shocking clues.
“Cubans. Smuggled in. I thought you might appreciate the irony.” —Frank Underwood, House of Cards, Season 3, Episode 3
On January 15th this year the US announced it will ease sanctions against Cuba. A truly historical moment as it seems this might be the beginning of a new diplomatic and economic relationship between the two nations since the embargo was introduced back in 1960. Three weeks later, on February 9, Netflix announced the launch of its streaming service in Cuba.
Could the news get any better? Well, the devil is in the details, they say. There is an obvious problem here. What are the three vital prerequisites to be a subscriber to Netflix? Compatible device, proper internet connection for streaming and a credit card to pay for your monthly subscription.
Yes, Cubans are allowed to buy electronic equipment for several years now. So let’s just say we have prerequisite number 1 covered.
But what about the other two? If you live in Cuba currently there is no legal way to open a Netflix account and subscribe to the streaming video service. Well, actually there is – if you are an expat living in Cuba with a foreign bank account and credit card. Major credit card companies are yet to consider operations in the country. But ok, let’s say you are a hot sexy Cuban who succeeds to hook up in a rum bar with an expat living in the country and for your first non-significant anniversary as a couple he or she gifts you with a Netflix account bought with an international credit card. I would say lucky you and good job hooking up with the most romantic person in the world who can really make a great present.
Still, Cuba has a very slow internet – the most popular internet access analysis website Speedtest.net by OOKLA rated it 193 out of 198 countries with an average download speed of 1.86 Mbps. In order to understand how (not) fast that is: 1.5 Mbps is about 25 times faster than dial-up internet speed. Do you remember what dial-up internet is? Here is a hint: that was what the internet was like when you had only a Hotmail account and Netflix was in the business with DVDs. With such an average speed smuggling will be much easier than streaming video. But there is hope! In mid-March Cuban artist Kcho announced that he was allowed to create the country’s first public Wi-Fi hotspot in his center. Its available bandwidth? 2 Mbps. Still, this is a good start and kudos to Kcho.
Last but not least, Netflix’s monthly subscription fee is almost one third of the average salary in Cuba. According to latest data, the average monthly pay in Cuba is 20 bucks. Ok, there is no country in the world where Netflix is available and all its population is subscribed to it, but after all this the question remains – Why did Netflix launch in Cuba?
It all leads to one logical answer. It was the deeds of Frank Underwood (the US president played by Kevin Spacey in Netflix’s acclaimed original series House of Cards) [attention, spoilers ahead if you have not watched season 3]. Mischievous that he is, the idea for entering Cuba was his as Commander in Chief. Probably he was really pissed that his always supporting wife and partner in crime Claire Underwood (played by Robin Wright) said she will leave him in the end of season 3 right before he was about to make his speech as Democratic Nominee. Who knows, maybe Netflix executives are too afraid to say NO to the powerful monster their own Frank Underwood is.
Ok, there are other possible answers to the question: Netflix did this as a strategic PR move to strengthen the message about its goal of international expansion and dominance; they have some political insight and agenda about Cuba and expect there will be business there very very soon for them and other American companies; it was a simple mistake – they wanted to enter China instead, not Cuba; or it was just the easiest thing to do – to step into the closest neighbor market to the HQ. If the latter is true, maybe we can expect the next expansion to include The Bahamas, The Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Haiti, and Puerto Rico. To hell with Australia and New Zealand, now that it is clear that Netflix will not commission local content there.
I guess it is not very easy to be Netflix – the French were afraid it will ‘erode the French cultural exception’ through American propaganda; the Aussies insist on having local content produced as if this is a quid pro quo deal; and in general you have to spend big money on producing enough own content so that you don’t have to pay endlessly for royalties for popular content that people want to watch and it is not yours.
I guess it is really not that easy. Well, unless you are one hot Cuban.
Could the news get any better? Well, the devil is in the details, they say. There is an obvious problem here. What are the three vital prerequisites to be a subscriber to Netflix? Compatible device, proper internet connection for streaming and a credit card to pay for your monthly subscription.
Yes, Cubans are allowed to buy electronic equipment for several years now. So let’s just say we have prerequisite number 1 covered.
But what about the other two? If you live in Cuba currently there is no legal way to open a Netflix account and subscribe to the streaming video service. Well, actually there is – if you are an expat living in Cuba with a foreign bank account and credit card. Major credit card companies are yet to consider operations in the country. But ok, let’s say you are a hot sexy Cuban who succeeds to hook up in a rum bar with an expat living in the country and for your first non-significant anniversary as a couple he or she gifts you with a Netflix account bought with an international credit card. I would say lucky you and good job hooking up with the most romantic person in the world who can really make a great present.
Still, Cuba has a very slow internet – the most popular internet access analysis website Speedtest.net by OOKLA rated it 193 out of 198 countries with an average download speed of 1.86 Mbps. In order to understand how (not) fast that is: 1.5 Mbps is about 25 times faster than dial-up internet speed. Do you remember what dial-up internet is? Here is a hint: that was what the internet was like when you had only a Hotmail account and Netflix was in the business with DVDs. With such an average speed smuggling will be much easier than streaming video. But there is hope! In mid-March Cuban artist Kcho announced that he was allowed to create the country’s first public Wi-Fi hotspot in his center. Its available bandwidth? 2 Mbps. Still, this is a good start and kudos to Kcho.
Last but not least, Netflix’s monthly subscription fee is almost one third of the average salary in Cuba. According to latest data, the average monthly pay in Cuba is 20 bucks. Ok, there is no country in the world where Netflix is available and all its population is subscribed to it, but after all this the question remains – Why did Netflix launch in Cuba?
It all leads to one logical answer. It was the deeds of Frank Underwood (the US president played by Kevin Spacey in Netflix’s acclaimed original series House of Cards) [attention, spoilers ahead if you have not watched season 3]. Mischievous that he is, the idea for entering Cuba was his as Commander in Chief. Probably he was really pissed that his always supporting wife and partner in crime Claire Underwood (played by Robin Wright) said she will leave him in the end of season 3 right before he was about to make his speech as Democratic Nominee. Who knows, maybe Netflix executives are too afraid to say NO to the powerful monster their own Frank Underwood is.
Ok, there are other possible answers to the question: Netflix did this as a strategic PR move to strengthen the message about its goal of international expansion and dominance; they have some political insight and agenda about Cuba and expect there will be business there very very soon for them and other American companies; it was a simple mistake – they wanted to enter China instead, not Cuba; or it was just the easiest thing to do – to step into the closest neighbor market to the HQ. If the latter is true, maybe we can expect the next expansion to include The Bahamas, The Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Haiti, and Puerto Rico. To hell with Australia and New Zealand, now that it is clear that Netflix will not commission local content there.
I guess it is not very easy to be Netflix – the French were afraid it will ‘erode the French cultural exception’ through American propaganda; the Aussies insist on having local content produced as if this is a quid pro quo deal; and in general you have to spend big money on producing enough own content so that you don’t have to pay endlessly for royalties for popular content that people want to watch and it is not yours.
I guess it is really not that easy. Well, unless you are one hot Cuban.
