The highly-anticipated third season of the political drama House of Cards makes its debut in the US today.
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Because it is produced by the streaming service Netflix, all 13 one-hour episodes of the third season will be made available today.
Fans of the series in the US are expected to "binge" watch the entire season this weekend. Australian fans of the series, however, will have to wait until the local Netflix service launches in March.
Netflix has not announced an exact date, though it has confirmed House of Cards will be one of its flagship titles when it opens for business.
The company's chief content officer Ted Sarandos told Fairfax Media the series had become a standard bearer for the Netflix brand globally.
"It has really acted as a brand ambassador for us around the world and sometimes people's introduction to the word Netflix has been a result of their love and appreciation of House of Cards," Sarandos said.
The biggest risk for Netflix is that unprecedented interest in the series, and a delay in making it available locally, will drive fans either to bypass the "geoblock" on the US Netflix service, or to download episodes using file-sharing networks.
It is believed there are already a large number – between 50,000 and 100,000 – Australians already accessing the US Netflix service directly, using software which bypasses the geoblock.
Netflix recently negotiated the return of the series from Foxtel, which had licenced it from the US studio Sony. Foxtel had aired and streamed the first season on delay, however it aired and streamed the second season "day and date" with the US.
The second season of the series concluded with the ascension of Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) to the US presidency, and finished with a scene in which he took ownership of the Oval Office in the White House.
 
But as the third season opens, Underwood must deal with the aftershocks of his grab for power.
Some scenes and story elements leaked earlier this month when the series went live on the Netflix service early, due to a technical glitch.
Though it was only live on the Netflix US service for around 20 minutes, it was enough time for screenshots and episode descriptions to be captured and distributed.
The creator of the US remake, Beau Willimon, told US media he was not concerned by the leak.
"Twenty minutes is not enough for people to have figured everything out," he said.
Willimon added that Frank Underwood's transition into the White House would not be without complication.
"Now that he and Claire [Underwood's wife, played by Robin Wright] have achieved what they aimed to achieve, now what?" Willimon said.
"What does he do with that power? Is there any higher to climb? Is the only direction down?"
 
Netflix, which was founded in 1997 as a DVD mail-order company, is now the dominant television and film streaming service in the US.
It has launched in 52 countries and boasts roughly 57 million subscribers.
It will be the third streaming service to launch into Australia in 2015, following the Foxtel-owned Presto and the Nine Network and Fairfax Media-owned Stan.
Fanfare on Twitter in lead-up to launch
Thing about House of Cards Season 3 dropping tonight is giving me goosebumps! — Clayton (@_ClaytonA_)
February 26, 2015
House of Cards tomorrow and yes ladies, I do have Netflix — A. Garbs (@AGalicious4)
February 26, 2015
House of Cards weekend. Unfortunately I have plans to spend time with other humans instead of getting to watch all the episodes in one go — Ryan Devlin (@RyanDevlin_)
February 26, 2015
More focused on the new season of House of Cards than my linear algebra test tomorrow — Mark Breen (@mark_breen95)
February 26, 2015
I can't wait to not go to sleep tonight due to
@HouseofCards.. Seriously the best show I've watched in a long time.
#HouseofCardsSeason3 — Goose (@XxHIRTxX)
February 26, 2015
I will be completely unavailable on Twitter from whenever
#HouseOfCards comes out to 12 hours from then. My body is ready. — Andrew Marcinko (@FootyAmerica)
February 26, 2015
Anyone with Netflix I can borrow? House of Cards Season 3 tomorrow, and I'm still a Netflix rebel in general, lol.
#HouseOfCards — Chris (@F1gchr)
February 26, 2015
sorry professor I can't make it to the midterm bc I have to finish house of cards before the new season comes out tomorrow — feminist killjoy (@nicoletteyawn)
February 26, 2015
The only thing getting me through tonight's shift is the fact that
#HouseOfCards will be on Netflix when I get home. — Lo Ashley (@LoAshely)
February 26, 2015
Tomorrow is Friday, it's also pay day, and it's also the start of the 3rd season of House of Cards. Oh my.. — Colin McDonald (@Hobbittoo)
February 26, 2015
If you don't think I'm going to watch house of cards at 3 am you're wrong — Marcus Targaryen (@KingMarcusXIII)
February 26, 2015
Is binge watching season 3 of
@HouseofCards an appropriate reason to take a sick day tomorrow? — pinkeldinho (@jpinkelman)
February 26, 2015
House of Cards is about to become the extent of my life — Chad Younger (@ChadHYounger)
February 26, 2015
House of Cards is available at 8.01am tomorrow. Weirdly, that's the same day I just decided my son needs to learn to walk to school himself. — Laura Kemp (@Laurajanekemp)
February 26, 2015