The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition Netflix boosted its worldwide membership to 57.4 million in the quarter, adding 4.33 million net new subscribers. The Globe's James Bradshaw writes much of the new growth is coming from outside the United States. After launching in several jurisdictions including France, Germany and Belgium last September, Netflix now operates in about 50 countries and will soon add Australia and New Zealand. But the company is promising to accelerate its growth plan, adding "additional major countries" later this year and exploring options for a "modest" offering in China. The company acknowledged the growing list of on-line streaming services it now counts as competitors, calling out recently launched Canadian offerings among them. Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications jointly launched a streaming service called Shomi in November, while BCE followed suit a month later with CraveTV which, at $4 a month, costs less than half of what Netflix does. (It is, however, available only to traditional TV subscribers.) The three companies launched the new services in an effort to retain traditional television subscribers who might consider cutting the cord altogether.