Netflix announced on Wednesday that its online streaming service will be available in 200 countries by 2016, except China. The company said that it would need more time to comply with the requirements imposed by government regulators.

Reuters reported that Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix, admitted during a July 15 interview that his company may not be able to offer its streaming service to Chinese viewers before the end of 2016.

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He explained that the reason why Netflix will delay its entry into China is due to the difficulties it has faced in complying with various government regulations.

The Street reported that if Netflix is successful in its bid to enter the Chinese market, the company would take years just to create a subscriber base that is less than ten million. Netflix spokesperson Marlee Tart told reporters that the company has modest goals during its initial years in the Chinese market. The priority right now for Netflix is to be able to secure the rights to offer its online streaming service to Chinese viewers. Anthony DiClemente, a Nomura analyst, believes that a successful Netflix entry to China or even a modest one would greatly boost the company's global expansion goals.

Netflix is set to offer its online streaming service to Japanese viewers during the third quarter of 2015. The company's CEO conceded that online users in Japan are quite "sensitive" when it comes to brands and expect an initial lukewarm response from the Japanese market.

Hastings is confident, however, that the Japanese would eventually form one of Netflix's devoted customer base. Before 2015 ends, Netflix will also make its debut in Italy, Portugal, and Spain.

The online streaming service company was able to add more than 3.3 million actual subscribers in the first half of 2015, exceeding its own projection of only 2.5 million, according to RTE. Netflix said its original contents are the primary reason why the number of subscribers jumped considerably. Most of the new Netflix viewers live outside the United States.

The streaming video service company was able to buck the downward trend in the United States as it was able to enroll more American subscribers than it had anticipated. It is estimated that there are more than 65 million Netflix subscribers inside and outside the U.S.

Tagsnetflix, netflix subscribers, Online Video Streaming China, Netflix China Market