Netflix is doubling down on growing its business in India with partnerships with Airtel, Vodafone and Videocon D2H. With Airtel and Videocon, the agreement details integrating the Netflix app on their direct-to-home services. The video streaming company will partner with Vodafone for their pre-paid programs and will enable payment integration, allowing Vodafone customers in India to pay for their Netflix subscriptions via their monthly bill. With Videocon D2H, the Netflix app will be installed on the set-top box and the remote will have a dedicated button to launch the app. Videocon clarified that the set-top box will have to be connected to the Internet through any Wifi or Ethernet connection for accessing a curated set of applications. The minimum internet speed needed is 2 Mbps. Netflix launched its service globally in January 2016, including India. It has been slow in stepping up their India efforts. They have only announced one original show being co-produced with Phantom, and a single stand-up comedy special by Vir Das. They have also been licensing some critically acclaimed independent films from India, in addition to an exclusive deal with Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment. “Working with some of India’s top artists, we cannot wait to bring more locally-produced series and films to our more than 93 million members households around the world,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said in a statement. Netflix's India subscriber base Based on service tax records, MediaNama estimated that Netflix has around 211,500-337,300 paying subscribers from India. Netflix does not reveal per-country subscription…
