Telefónica to integrate Netflix and Movístar + in one package

Movístar + subscribers will not have to take out a separate subscription to the US-based Netflix in order to watch the huge array of dramas, comedies and full-length epics it offers, many of which are bespoke.

Customers of Netflix or of Movístar + in Spain normally receive the dubbed versions of non-Spanish serials and films, but can switch them back to the original language if required.

Although the Movístar + team has not officially confirmed the union – which could go live as early as summer 2018 – sources from Telefónica say the package will be fully integrated with Netflix as though they are part of the same deal, so customers will not even have to press an extra button on their remote to switch from one to the other.

If the sources are correct – and Telefónica has already publicly expressed its intentions of working more closely with Netflix – the final strings of the deal are likely to be tied and the terms announced later this month.

The photograph shows the second season of the bespoke Netflix series Las Chicas del Cable ('Girls on the Wire'), produced entirely in Spain and with a Spanish cast, based in 1928 when the first call centre opened in Madrid and provided an opportunity for women to work outside the home.

Since its launch, it has become a cult success in Spain.

Photograph by Netflix