Sydney-raised Yael Stone - whose Boston-New York accent is so convincing that bets were lost in the Fairfax offices - would like her family to see it, of course. And Uzo Aduba - who plays Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren in the acclaimed prison drama - also has relatives here.

"I've got cousins in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne, and they need to watch it," says Aduba, one of several international stars currently in Australia for the local launch of global streaming giant Netflix.

When OITNB launched in 2013, the rest of the world binge-viewed it on Netflix. Australians, in contrast, endured an interminable wait for its debut on pay TV, where it aired weekly. Stone nods knowingly as I tell Aduba we're accustomed to getting a raw deal: twiddling our thumbs until a show like OITNB finally hits our shores, then paying an absurd premium for it.

Not any more. On Tuesday, Netflix opens its digital doors to Australians. Famous for its original series such as OITNB and House of Cards, Netflix will give these shows to us at the same time as everyone else. Not to mention a suite of new programs in the works (see analysis), and a huge library of old shows and movies.

In an aggressive move, the company announced a starting monthly price of just $8.99 - about $1 cheaper than rivals Presto and Stan. (Stan is a joint venture between Nine Entertainment and Fairfax Media.) This allows users to stream Netflix in standard definition on one device at a time, whereas other services allow high-definition streaming on multiple devices simultaneously.

A monthly fee of $11.99 allows two simultaneous streams in high-definition, and $14.99 provides four simultaneous streams in 4K ultra-high definition.

"Netflix is so pioneering - such a cutting-edge way of viewing television - because they have nothing to lose," says Aduba. "And when someone has nothing to lose, they do whatever they feel is best. They go for whatever they think the best story is to tell."

The series, frequently described as groundbreaking, has won more than 20 major awards. Stone - who plays the hyper-feminine deluded romantic Lorna Morello - says viewers respond to seeing themselves on screen.

"We have probably the most diverse cast around at the moment," she says.

"Hopefully people are watching and seeing themselves, not just as a tokenistic idea like, 'Here's our one black character! Here's our one Hispanic character!' It's like, no, there's actually a range of people in this world who have stories to tell. All these polarities, all these spectrums to cover within each world ... people are smart. People are tired of the cookie-cutter mould and are ready for new things."

For Aduba, the digital revolution can be viewed as a conduit to social change.

"As technology continues to advance, we get to have greater windows into different people's world's - and it helps us realise how alike we are as societies. We used to live in our own cultures, in our own neighbourhood, in our own state. Now you can reach out through the internet or things like Netflix, and be in Africa in less than a second, and realise you are more alike than you are different."

mlallo@fairfaxmedia.com.au