SYDNEY — The CEO of Australian on-demand TV service Quickflix has launched a very public attack on American rival, Netflix.

Stephen Langsford has written an open letter to Netflix CEO Reed Hasting telling him to make users "come through the front door."

As the battle between on-demand television and video subscription services heats up in Australia, it seems things are getting a little more interesting and a little more brutal.

Netflix is the second most popular service in Australia, growing its audience to more than 200,000 subscribers without even launching locally. Australians can access the American Netflix catalogue using a VPN service to mask their local IP address. The company are expected to launch locally in 2015.

Quickflix is currently the main local option for the consumer and it is clear the company has had enough of Netflix allowing people "unauthorised access" to US content through the back door.

Langsford demands Hastings get legally on board in Australia and begin investing in the local subscription market, rather than stealing his Quickflix's customers and making it difficult for local services to compete.

"Netflix not only knowingly collects revenues from subscribers with unauthorised access to your US service, investing nothing in the Australian market nor paying for Australian rights to the content you make available, but also tacitly encourages Australian consumers to inadvertently breach the copyright of the content owners," Langsford wrote.

"Unlike yourself, Quickflix has obtained all necessary Australian rights to the content on its platform, faithfully meets all necessary security requirements, including geo-filtering imposed by the content rights holders, and continues to reinvest in its service with the goal of offering the very best service in the market to its customers."

"So Mr Hastings, we challenge Netflix to play by the rules. It’s how we do it here in Australia," he continued in the letter. "Stop turning a blind eye to the VPN services acting as a gateway to your service. Be honest and face up to the issue of unauthorised access to your US service. Have the courage to limit your service only to the territories where you have legally obtained the rights to operate by abiding by the geo-filtering obligations required by your content license agreements. And do so immediately."

Image: Supplied by Quickflix