Slingshot boom after Netflix door opened

Kevin Spacey in House of Cards - one of the original content productions made by US company Netflix for its subscribers.

The number of Slingshot customers accessing movie websites like Netflix has quadrupled since the internet company unblocked them earlier this month and the volume of traffic to them is 12 times greater than what it was.

Slingshot, the country's third biggest internet provider, unblocked two dozen websites for all its customers to access, including Netflix, BBC iPlayer and Hulu.

These sites are normally blocked to internet customers from this part of the world, although there are means to get around this geo-blocking.

Prior to unblocking the sites for all its customers, Slingshot only offered this service to New Zealand households who claimed they had an international visitor staying with them.
Also read:
• Slingshot opens up Netflix to Kiwis
• Hollywood, Sky TV watch Slingshot deal closely
• Pat Pilcher: TV networks, wake up and smell the coffee
• TV networks scramble after Slingshot's Netflix move
• Slingshot to accept Bitcoins

Thousands of its customers were using this service - and claiming they were playing host to overseas visitors - but Slingshot says there are now four times more customers accessing these websites after they were unblocked some 10 days ago.

The reaction from its customers had been overwhelmingly positive, a Slingshot spokesman said today.

The volume of Slingshot internet traffic to these sites was 12 times than what it was before, the spokesman said.

While free-to-air television networks said they were holding urgent talks with Hollywood studios after Slingshot announced the move, the internet company said today it had received no pushback from its competitors or content providers.