Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced at a press conference in Las Vegas that the video streaming service had been switched on in 130 new countries, including South Africa.

Where you were previously redirected to a page telling you that Netflix was not available in South Africa, you are now invited to sign up for a free month of streaming.

This confirms industry rumours that Netflix would launch in SA from January 2016.

The service is priced in US dollars, with plans structured the same as in the US.

Its cheapest package costs $7.99 per month and offers a single stream in standard definition, while its most expensive plan is $11.99 and lets you watch up to 4 simultaneous streams in HD and UHD resolutions.

The table below summarises the Netflix plans available.

Plan Price Resolution Screens Basic $7.99 (R126) SD 1 Standard $9.99 (R158) HD 2 Premium $11.99 (R190) HD / UHD 4 Exchange rate: R15.83/$

You have to provide credit card information or a PayPal account when signing up, but you can cancel if you are concerned about being billed at the end of your free month of service.

When you cancel, your Netflix account will remain active for the remainder of the month, and will only stop working when your free trial period is over.

More on Netflix in South Africa

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Netflix hiring managers for Africa

Netflix hikes price of HD plan

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