Netflix Update Allows for Offline Viewing

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Good news for binge viewers with spotty internet connections. Netflix announced Wednesday that subscribers can now download select shows and movies for offline viewing.

The download option is available on the latest version of the Netflix app on iOS and Android.

"While many members enjoy watching Netflix at home, we’ve often heard they also want to continue their 'Stranger Things' binge while on airplanes and other places where Internet is expensive or limited," Netflix's director of product innovation Eddy Wu said on the company's blog.

The video-streaming company, which has offices in Los Gatos and Beverly Hills, has resisted implementing a download option in the past, but CEO Reed Hastings signaled a change of heart last April.

During a conference call with reporters, Hastings said the company will "keep an open mind" on a downloading option. Netflix competitors, Amazon Prime and YouTube, are already letting subscribers download content to their devices.

Hastings had said that the downloading option will create a "paradox of choice."

“You put strawberry, apricot and blackberry jam in the supermarket aisle and you can persuade half the people coming down the aisle to taste the jam and maybe buy one,” he told Gizmodo UK in 2015. “But if you decide to add lemon, orange, blueberry and grapefruit, by adding the choices you don’t increase the number of people choosing one, but in fact you go the other way. Fewer people choose anything at all.”

Just like Amazon Prime, the selections available for download is limited, at least for now. Shows such as "Orange is The New Black," "Narcos" and "The Crown" are available for download right now with more on the way, the company said.

Netflix downloads will not, however, be available on your devices forever. Each download will have an expiration time. Some shows and movies will expire within 48 hours, and others will expire within seven days from the time you press play.

Photo courtesy of Netflix