Google Play Announces Expansion to 37 New Countries; 40 New Languages

Google’s (News - Alert) answer to Netflix and other online movie and television streaming services, Google Play, has until this week, been available only in the United States. Now, Google announced it’s Google Play Movies and TV App would be receiving a number of significant expansions.

Not only has the app has been updated to include support for 40 new languages, but there is also ability to download movies in either high-definition or standard-definition. Prior to the update, the only method of downloading available was in high-definition. This will allow those on less than stellar cellular data or wireless connections to access the same media in a comparable amount of time as those who can download in HD.

Along with the support for languages, Google’s Movie service has been expanded to 37 additional countries. The list includes Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, Gabon, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Ivory Coast, Luxembourg, Mali, Mauritius, Namibia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Niger, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Rwanda, Senegal, Sweden, Togo, Uruguay, Venezuela and Zambia.

As a result of this expansion, millions of new users will be able to watch movies using the Google Play App, though much like Netflix, the catalog and availability of titles will depend on the location of the user. The TV catalog will unfortunately remain limited for the time being to the United States, Australia, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

Google’s Play service is popular in its app form however, also like Netflix it offers access to content via its website. While users are waiting for their respective favorite streaming services to expand to their home countries, they can always set up VPN services on their computers and access the content under U.S or U.K IP addresses.

Google has also expanded its Play Music and Music All Access services to Greece, Norway, Sweden, and Slovakia.