If you’re a Netflix subscriber and was hoping that you might one day be able to binge watch some shows from thousands of feet in the air on a plane, sorry to burst your bubble, but it isn’t going to happen. Netflix has spoken definitively on the topic of offline viewing, advising that it isn’t going to happen. Ever. It appears that competitor Amazon, which already offers offline viewing capabilities with its Prime Instant Video service, has a markedly different point of view on the issue.
Netflix isn’t concerned about providing your entertainment on a flight or any place else that lacks a strong Wi-Fi signal. The streaming service recently (again) reiterated that it has no plans to support offline playback. “It’s never going to happen,” Netflix’s Cliff Edwards recently told TechRadar. When asked by The Verge to confirm Edwards’ remarks, a spokesperson provided the following statement: “We have been asked the same question for several years and have always given the exact same answer.” So the company’s message couldn’t be much clearer: offline playback isn’t in the cards, and it never really was to begin with. Netflix does seems more concrete and definitive about the subject now. In January, Joris Evers — then Netflix’s director of corporate and technology communications — described such a feature as “very unlikely,” but stopped short of dismissing the possibility outright.