Updated: September 20, 2012.

The article below was originally written in March 2011. Since then, in March 2012, NetFlix opened up for business in the UK and Ireland. However, it’s offerings were meagre, presumably due to different licencing deals being needed for content being shown in Europe. Given its less than thrilling selection of content, I searched out a way to get access to NetFlix US and the huge range of content it has to offer. How I achieved that is documented here on my Home Cinema site.

Since signing up for NetFlix, I did in fact drop my Sky Subscription and actually I haven’t missed its channels or its expensive subscription fees. Probably 50% of my time sitting in front of the TV is now spent watching stuff on NetFlix US. And, in the 6 months since it launched here, more and more content has been added to it so the local version is now worth the money.

However, since I wrote the original article, quite a few of the documentaries I found on Netflix are no longer available there. Here’s what I was able to find on Netflix US (if you know of any other documentaries, let me know and I’ll add them to this list):

Carl Sagan’s Cosmos
Into The Universe With Stephen Hawking
The Universe – Seasons 1 – 5
How The universe Works
BBC’s “The Planets”
The Cosmos – A beginner’s Guide
400 Years of the Telescope
Cosmic Collisions
Discover: Space
Asteroids: Deadly Impact
Nova: Hubble’s Amazing Rescue
Nova: The Pluto Files
Nova: Welcome to Mars
Nova: Where Did We Come From?
Nova: Cam We Make It To Mars?
Nova: Mars – Deal or Alive?
Phoenix Mars Mission: Onto The Ice
Phoenix Mars Mission: Ashes To Ice
Space Trek: TED Talks

So not a huge selection. On Netflix Ireland, all I found was Space Trek: TED Talks and BBC’s The Planets (maybe Netflix UK has a few more astronomy-related programmes).

Original Article:

I envy people in the US. You guys can subscribe to NetFlix to rent DVDs, Blu-Rays and stream TV programs and movies to your PCs. Sure, in broken-down Ireland we have small Rent-DVD-By-Mail operations, but we don’t have anything that streams TV episodes and movies on demand. While there have been indications that NetFlix will make a move into Europe, it’s probably still some time off. At least in the UK, they have ILoveFilm.com which can stream movies.

The result is that if I like a TV series, specific documentary or movie, I have to buy it. And, since I’ve become a HD junkie, I have to buy the Blu-Ray version of a platter if one is available. Also, some content is only available in America, so that means having to import DVDs and Blu-Rays from the US. All of those puchases add up over time. I even bought a multizone-free (chipped) Blu-Ray player so I could watch Blu-Rays from both sides of the Atlantic!

But the bottom line is that some material will only get watched once. Maybe seeing it once is all that’s required. Maybe it turns out to be bad material that you never want to watch again. And the upshot is a number of disks that languish on my shelves, gathering dust. They’re an expense I’ll never recoup.

That’s why I like the idea of renting DVDs and Blu-Rays. But in my country, the selection of offer is pretty much confined to the latest movies with no TV programs on offer, so it’s not really a viable option here. I particularly like the idea of streaming TV programs, watching them on demand. If there was a series I really enjoyed, I could rent it again or buy the DVD or Blu-Ray. If it turned out to be crap, then only a couple of dollars would have been wasted.

But again in this country, there’s no such option. I really wish NetFlix would get a European option going. They’d make a killing over here. In the US, with NetFlix you can rent or stream series such as:


The Universe Series 1 to 5
Carl Sagan’s Cosmos
Physics: The Elegant Universe and Beyond
Stephen Hawking’s Universe
From the Earth to the Moon: The Signature Edition
The Astronomers
BBC’s “The Planets”
BBC’s “Hyperspace”

Then there are documentaries like these:

Understanding The Universe
Timothy Ferris’s “The Creation of The Universe”
James Burke’s “The Day The Universe Changed”
Richard Dawkins’ “Growing Up In The Universe”
NGC’s Journey To The Edge of The Universe
Into The Universe With Stephen Hawking
God, The Universe and Everything Else
StarGaze II: Visions of The Universe
A Science Odyssey: Mysteries of the Universe
Discovery Channel’s “Unfolding Universe”
The Cosmos: A Beginner’s Guide (from The Open University and BBC)
Cosmic Voyage: IMAX
Destiny in Space: IMAX
Space Station: IMAX
Black Sky: The Race for Space & Winning the X-Prize
Red Stuff: The True Story of the Russian Race for Space
Nova: To The Moon
NGC’s “Direct from the Moon”
Race to the Moon: American Experience
Footprints on the Moon: Apollo 11
Journey to the Moon: The 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11
In the Shadow of the Moon
Man on the Moon with Walter Cronkite
Space Race: Race to the Moon: Vol. 1 & 2
Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon
The Race to the Moon
Apollo 7: Shakedown Cruise
Apollo 8: Leaving the Cradle
Apollo 10: The Dress Rehearsal
Apollo 11: Men on the Moon
Apollo 11: A Night to Remember
Apollo 11: The Eagle Has Landed
Apollo 13: The Real Story
Apollo 13: Houston: We’ve Had a Problem
Apollo 13: To the Edge and Back
Apollo 15: Man Must Explore
Apollo 17: End of the Beginning
Orphans of Apollo
400 Years of the Telescope
All About Telescopes and Binoculars
Stephen Hawking and the Theory of Everything

(I have a list of recommended DVDs here). And then there are the movies based on reality like The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, October Sky and The Dish along with any number of sci-fi movies ranging from Robinson Crusoe on Mars and Rocket Man (the Disney version!) to Space Cowboys, Original Flash Gordon to Armageddon and Deep Impact.

If I had access to NetFlix, I could dump my Sky satellite subscription and save a ton of money. Sky costs me about $70 per month. NetFlix costs $7.99 per month for unlimited streaming of movies and TV episodes, or $9.99 per month if you want to rent DVDs and Blu-Rays too. I can’t even avail of the NetFlix free trial. Prorbably just as well as it would make me realise all the more just what kind of service I’m missing out on.

NetFlix would blow Sky out of the water over here, so you folks over in the US should count your bessings with this video rental service. I really envy you!

Filed under: Astronomy Videos