Influential Sanford Bernstein media analyst Todd Juenger has long believed in the power of subscription video on demand king Netflix, predicting that the service would top 300 million worldwide subscribers by 2024. Now, in his most recent report, Juenger notes that in Brazil -- the second largest Netflix market behind the U.S. -- Netflix customers now outpace pay TV subscribers. 

Netflix’s growth in Brazil has been rapid. According to Juenger, there were about 6.5 million Netflix customers in Brazil in 2017, more than doubling to 17 million by 2020. Pay TV, with about 16 million customers in 2020, lost about 3 million subscribers in the same time frame, the analyst wrote. 

“Brazil matters: at 17 million plus subs, it is almost certainly Netflix’s largest market outside the U.S. in number of subscribers,” Juenger wrote. “And we expect many of the dynamics at work there are also playing out across other foreign countries, especially middle income/emerging markets.” 

Even at No. 2, Brazil is still far behind the U.S. market, which has about 73 million subscribers. Globally, Netflix has about 193 million customers. But even in the U.S., the gap is narrowing. According to MoffettNathanson, there were about 79 million traditional pay TV customers in the U.S. in the second quarter, down from 80 million in Q1. 

According to Juenger’s report, Netflix’s entrance into the Brazilian market wasn’t easy. It cracked the largest country in South America in 2011, and pretty much had the SVOD space to itself until 2015, when its first competitor -- Globoplay, a streaming service from Portuguese-language content producer Globo -- entered the scene. 2015 also was the beginning of a devastating recession and high unemployment in Brazil, and though Globoplay was priced at about one-third of Netflix, it only has about 6.5 million customers today. 

Juenger added that Netflix has prevailed despite Globo’s refusal to license any of its Portuguese-language content to the streamer. So, in a country where 99% of the population speaks Portuguese, Netflix has managed to attract three times the subscribers of its largest competitor by offering content in a language most don’t necessarily understand (English and Spanish) at a higher price (about 32 Brazilian real per month, according to Juenger). Granted, many Brazilians speak several languages and economic factors likely played a big role in the shift from traditional pay TV, but those alone don't explain Netflix's huge popularity in the country.

“Netflix provides a superior product at a quarter of the price of pay TV, and can be shared across different households much more easily than a pay TV subscription,” Juenger wrote, adding that Netflix hasn’t fueled growth by keeping prices low. 

“Netflix has raised prices of its Standard plan five times since its introduction in September 2011, more than doubling in nominal terms and up 37% in constant domestic currency,”  Juenger continued.

According to the analyst, Brazilians are watching a wide variety of programming, but not the same as their U.S. counterparts. According to Juenger, the top shows in Brazil are mostly Netflix originals, and mostly in English. He added that 58% of the shows that made the Brazilian Top 10 never made the U.S. Top 10.  

Competition in Brazil is expected to heat up in the next several months, with Disney Plus slated to launch in mid-November and HBO Max next year. But Juenger sees little impact from these services because he believes they are primarily competing on price -- Disney Plus at a 12% discount to Netflix and HBO Max still undisclosed. Amazon (the online retailer, not the rain forest) launched its full Prime package (video and the free delivery service) in 2019 and has grown quickly -- in September 2019 Amazon claimed Brazil had the fastest rise in Prime members in the online retailer's history. Still, that could be mainly because of pricing -- Prime is offered at a 70% discount to Netflix -- and free product delivery.         

“We doubt any of these services will be able to match Netflix's popularity in Brazil,” Juenger wrote, citing Google search statistics that show interest in Netflix far outweighs the competition. “We believe this is driven by Netflix being the first-mover and only relevant streaming service in Brazil for a while (not different than in other countries), as well as due to its massive production of high-profile content and an underlying strong technology base.” 

The Trump Administration has started to huddle with the European Commission to talk about enhancing the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield after the EU's Court of Justice ruled that the U.S. can't live up to its part of the bargain, promising to strengthen privacy protections. 

Concluding that it does not sufficiently protect data transferred from the EU to the U.S., the Court of Justice last month invalidated the "privacy shield." 

"The U.S. Department of Commerce and the European Commission have initiated discussions to evaluate the potential for an enhanced EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework to comply with the July 16 judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the Schrems II case," said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and EU commissioner for Justice Dider Reynders in a joint statement Monday (Aug. 10). "This judgment declared that this framework is no longer a valid mechanism to transfer personal data from the European Union to the United States. 

Related: FTC Cracks Down on Alleged Privacy Shield Pretenders 

"The European Union and the United States recognize the vital importance of data protection and the significance of cross-border data transfers to our citizens and economies. We share a commitment to privacy and the rule of law, and to further deepening our economic relationship, and have collaborated on these matters for several decades."   

"As we face new challenges together, including the recovery of the global economy after the COVID-19 pandemic, our partnership will strengthen data protection and promote greater prosperity for our nearly 800 million citizens on both sides of the Atlantic." 

The shield was a way for U.S. companies to be considered in compliance with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation simply by signing on to the shield's data protection guarantees, rather than having to come up with individual policies and agreements to comply with the GDPR protections of cross-border data flows.  

In invalidating the shield the court said data protections in U.S. laws "are not circumscribed in a way that satisfies requirements that are essentially equivalent to those required under EU law."  

Now Commerce and the EU will have to find a way to get the U.S. data protections on the same page as the EU. 

Related: FCC, FTC Chairs Defend Privacy Rules Rollback

The FCC under former chairman Tom Wheeler approved tough U.S. data privacy rules, but they were invalidated by Republicans in Congress despite pushback by privacy groups and Democrats who have called for a consumer privacy "bill of rights."

“Cross-border data flows are pivotal to the $1.3 trillion trading relationship between the U.S. and EU and are relied upon by the more than 5,300 Privacy Shield-certified businesses," said Jason Oxman, president of tech association ITI. "We’re encouraged that the U.S. and EU have begun talks on a successor framework in the wake of the CJEU’s decision in the Schrems II case, and the tech industry is committed to working with all stakeholders in the development of such framework to protect individuals’ personal data while supporting innovation and the free flow of data.”   

The draw for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup will unfold in Ottawa this Saturday and the U.S. rights-holders to the tourney will provide extensive coverage of the group selections.

Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo and its cable cousin mun 2 will simulcast the draw on Dec. 6 at noon (ET), while Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 are also in the game. Distaff futbol fans can also keep abreast of the picks on Deportes Telemundo En Vivo Extra App and via the authenticated Fox Sports GO platform.

During the ceremony at the Canadian Museum of History, the 24 teams will be selected into six groups of four sides. Host nation Canada, the U.S., FIFA's top-ranked team, No. 2 Germany and defending champion Japan, which currently holds down the third position, are expected to head four of the groupings.

In addition to Canada and the U.S., CONCACAF has two other representatives: Mexico and Costa Rica, while South America’s CONMEBOL has Colombia, Brazil and Ecuador. Europe has seven other sides besides the Germans: Norway, Sweden, England, France, Switzerland, Spain and Holland. Africa has three entries, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Cameroon, while Australia and New Zealand emerged from Oceania.  Japan, along with China, Korea Republic and Thailand, comprise the Asian contingent.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 will play out across six host cities: Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal and Moncton, kicking off Saturday, June 6 and ending with the championship match on July 5. 

Telemundo’s coverage will be led by legendary sportscaster Andrés Cantor, in concert with Jessi Losada, three-time top Mexican scorer Carlos Hermosillo, and former Chivas de Guadalajara player Manuel Sol. Veteran commentator Sammy Sadovnik and Ritmo Deportivo host Leti Coo will report from Canada.

Deportes Telemundo’s coverage will include profiles on top women’s players from around the globe, as well as interviews with Hispanic players and coaches from some of the leading Latin American teams, including Leonardo Cuéllar, a recent inductee into the World Soccer Hall of Fame, and the coach, with his son, of the Mexican national women’s team.  

Rob Stone is the face on the Fox flank from Los Angeles, anchoring FS1’s hour-long show, which will mark the first time since the tourney was held Stateside in 1999 that the women’s draw will be televised in this nation in English.

Sky Sports correspondent Kate Abdo will be on the scene north of the border, where she will work with three-time Olympic gold medalist and retired U.S. team defender Heather Mitts; Ariane Hingst, a two-time World Cup champ with Germany; Kelly Smith, England’s all time national team goal-scorer; and Tony DiCicco, the head coach of the 1999 U.S. World Cup champions.   

Fox Sports soccer insider and Sports Illustrated senior columnist Grant Wahl will provide analysis and get the post-draw reaction from current U.S. head coach Jill Ellis in Canada.

The U.S. ranked 19th in the world in terms of people online at 84,2%, according to the latest UN Broadband Commission report on worldwide access.

According to the report, over 50% of the world's population will have access to broadband by 2017. There are now 77 countries with over 50% of the population online, up from 70 in 2013.

Tops in people online -- the percentage of individuals who use the Internet -- is Iceland at 96.5%, followed by Norway, Sweden and Denmark,

The U.S. has dropped from 20th to 24th place in fixed broadband subscriptions per capita, according to the report.

Critics of U.S. broadband companies frequently point to the UN figures to make their point that the U.S. is not a world leader, but defenders point out that most of those ahead of the U.S. are small or self-contained countries where it is easier to drive high penetration and use.

“The U.S. has a different facilities-based competition broadband model than most countries of the world. It is designed for, and very successful in, encouraging private investment (over $1.2 trillion cumulatively), and in encouraging innovation by letting users decide and choose what technologies and services they actually need and want rather than government deciding many years in advance what users should want,” said Scott Cleland Chairman of NetCompetition. “The U.S. is playing a different broadband game, market-driven not government driven, so the measures of success – private investment, facility-choice, innovation, and consumer choice -- are naturally different.”   

NetCompetition members include the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, AT&T and Verizon.

The report was released Monday at the tenth annual meeting of the Broadband Commission for digital Development, whose members include former FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, now with the Carlyle Group.

Genachowski was chairman when the FCC produced the nation's first National Broadband Plan back in 2010. The report says that 140 countries have such plans, and 13 more have plans in the works.