Netflix Launches Downloads Just in Time for Holiday Travel Woes

Netflix has stopped screwing around and will now let you download your favorite content for offline viewing.

Now that we're in the middle of a particularly onerous holiday season, we gotta face the facts: No amount of offline content can ever really mask the pain of being a human. That said, Netflix's announcement Wednesday that they would finally be offering downloads is just enough to get me (briefly) stoked on life:

"While many members enjoy watching Netflix at home, we've often heard they also want to continue their Stranger Things binge while on airplanes and other places where Internet is expensive or limited," Eddy Wu, Netflix's director of product innovation, said in a press release. "Just click the download button on the details page for a film or TV series and you can watch it later without an internet connection."

But what's the catch? There's gotta be a catch, right? Well, there is. Kinda. The download option isn't available for all movies and TV shows just yet, though Netflix confirmed Wednesday that original series like Orange Is the New Black and Narcos were made immediately available for phone and tablet users. Additional titles are thankfully "on the way," so don't sweat it.

Rumors about Netflix finally taking the download plunge hit their peak over the summer, with Light Readingreporting in June that the move was an "open secret" among industry experts and was expected by the end of the year. Good call, Light Reading. Good call.

How's the future looking, cable providers?

Latest in Pop Culture