Netflix Moving Into Piracy-Wracked Spain

The company is targeting a January 2012 target date for its debut ina country in which illegal downloads outstrip movie ticket sales by 4-1. Spain. There was no announcement from the streaming and DVD rental giant but Pedro Perez, president of the local producers association, confirmed that Netflix had contacted various Spanish producers ahead of its launch. Spain is on the International Intellectual Property Alliances Watchlist of offenders for piracy with 400 million illegal downloads per year, compared with 100 million tickets sold in the theatres. Several attempts by local producers and distributors to provide legal downloading sites in Spain have struggled so far. Apples iTunes store, which opened in Spainin November, has gotten off to a slow sales start.