Many connected TV owners have had the unpleasant surprise of seeing Netflix disappear from their device.
You may have wanted to launch Netflix this morning and discovered the unpleasant surprise: the application no longer launches. A black screen followed by a rather ambiguous message: “Netflix is no longer available on this device”. This mishap affects more than a million devices worldwide according to the parent company of Netflix, which is communicating about this problem encountered by many of its subscribers.
The problem encountered primarily concerns the oldest connected television models. Netflix insisted that the platform was doing its best to keep as many devices as possible compatible with its application. As a reminder, all video on demand services such as Disney+, Prime Video and also Netflix are subject to the hardware and software restrictions of the devices on which they are viewed and must therefore be regularly updated. Thus, the official Netflix application regularly offers new updates to its subscribers to resolve possible bugs, overcome security vulnerabilities or simply add new features likely to satisfy its audience.
Unfortunately, for millions of subscribers around the world, this is a difficult pill to swallow at the moment. In order to make its application as up to date as possible, Netflix has announced that older connected TV models will now no longer be able to benefit from Netflix at all! According to the firm, this concerns models between 10 and 14 years old. If your device is in this range, or close to it, it may no longer be compatible with the videos on demand application.
Connected televisions released after 2014 therefore seem to escape this problem… For now. Nothing says that Netflix will not ignore these in a few years. In question ? An SSLv3 protocol installed by default on older devices, which has become obsolete for the Netflix application and affected by a security vulnerability. In order not to put your personal data and your device at risk, Netflix has therefore chosen to no longer be available on the latter.
This end of compatibility concerns multiple Sony Bravia, Sony Legacy, LG and LM6410, LM860V, LM 670S and LM960V brand televisions. In order to continue using Netflix on these, it is always possible to connect a computer via HDMI or a Chromecast box to stream the application on it and enjoy it. But beware ! Netflix also warns that second and third generation Apple TV boxes, therefore more recent, will also lose their compatibility very soon.