Netflix Spain Launches Oct 20 at €7.99/Month

Netflix arrives in Spain on October 20 starting at €7.99/month

Four simultaneous connections in 4K for €11.99. Split among four people, that's €3 each. That arithmetic convinced many before the service even existed in Spain. The company has set the date: October 20, with three plans starting at €7.99/month and a free first month. Subscriptions can be canceled anytime.

The basic plan costs €7.99 and allows one standard definition connection. The standard plan rises to €9.99 and permits two simultaneous HD connections. The premium plan, at €11.99, offers four connections in Ultra HD 4K. The service will reach Smart TVs, tablets, mobiles, computers, consoles, set-top boxes, Apple TV, and Chromecast. There is an agreement with Vodafone España to integrate it into Vodafone TV, though it can be contracted through any operator or directly online.

What the launch catalog includes

Original series like Daredevil, Sense8, Narcos, Marco Polo, Club de Cuervos, Grace and Frankie, or Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Award-winning documentaries like Virunga and Mission Blue, the documentary series Chef's Table, and the first original antiestéticature film, Beasts of No Nation. All subtitled and dubbed into Spanish, with a wide children's selection. The catalog will grow in the coming months, and announced premieres include Jessica Jones, the second of four Marvel series leading to The Defenders.

Is paying €8/month for Netflix expensive?

It depends on what you compare it to. For some potential customers, a reasonable price is €4.99, and anything above that is excessive. For others, less than ten euros for the described offer isn't abusive, especially compared to traditional operator bills. In between are those who already pay for TV and don't see what the service adds: a piecemeal contracted lineup—Canal+ Series, Series Xtra, DCine, Acción, Comedia, Estrenos, TCM, Hollywood HD, AXN White—covers much of the same content. And then there are those who simply refuse to pay twice for what they believe they've already paid for.

The real competitor isn't Movistar: it's eMule, torrents, and Popcorn Time

With €8 at stake, Netflix's adversary isn't the current operator but free downloads. There are accounts of massive P2P libraries, built on own storage and multiple balanced lines. But there are counterarguments: much of what circulates arrives in poor quality, speeds are capped, and files need checking individually. Add the wear on disks, formats, and connections, which tires out long-time users.

The other front is convenience. A €39 Chromecast and a decent line suffice to watch 1080p without issues, although many admit their connection dies at 13.25 Mbps download and 1.35 Mbps upload. Those switching to subscription payments cite exactly this: immediacy and zero management. Anti-surveillance advocates also have their point: they remind us that in other countries, prosecution of downloads is far more serious.

Why the Spanish catalog falls short compared to the US

The most repeated complaint isn't about price, but available content. The service launched with around 700 titles and faced criticism; nearly a year later, the count exceeded 2,000 across series, movies, and documentaries. Still, some describe the catalog as scarce, while others claim not to find a single movie they usually watch. Volume complaints add geographic ones: different offers by country, with clients paying more than Americans to see less. Calls for a single global Netflix persist.

The standoff with Spanish film producers

The employers' association FAPAE and its president, Ramón Colom, have criticized Netflix for lack of contact and demand investment in Spain as required by law. The company responds that its headquarters are in the Netherlands and it has no such obligation. The sector also defends that Netflix does not broadcast using Spanish radio spectrum, which critics argue empties the requirement of meaning.

How the relationship with the service evolved

Initial enthusiasm soon met reality: after the trial month, cancellations due to a poor catalog trinc. Then came adjustments—canceling for a few months, waiting for reinforcements, and returning—and the opposite: people who stopped downloading entirely. Shared accounts emerged as a formula, premium among four people at €3 each, and even those who admit years of compulsive downloading acknowledge they no longer want torrent, disk, and format hassles. For specific series, the old method still has supporters who download the entire season on premiere day.

The first year left a curious picture. An enthusiast with 30 Mbps and a Chromecast said it looked better than traditional TV, while another, with over 2,000 titles available, claimed there wasn't a single movie for them. Both were true at once. And neither issue has been resolved.