Rumor Redux: Netflix To Stream On Your Xbox 360
We've been hearing for some time that as part of expanding their movies-on-demand service, Netflix wanted to partner up with one or more of the current consoles to deliver content directly to households. Now analyst Michael Pachter is predicting that the company has narrowed that down to a specific machine, the Xbox 360, and has either signed a deal, or is in negotiations with Microsoft.
The competitive advantage of such an alliance is clear: Netflix customers who are Xbox Live members will have the ability to stream online content through their Xbox 360s directly to their televisions. The ability to do so is available without the Xbox 360, but requires a measure of technological sophistication and a high tolerance for failure.
Pachter also claims that the reason for choosing Xbox 360 over the PS3 has to do with the North American install base for the console. The report does not mention Netflix's own set top box, or Microsoft's current movie and television store via XBLM. both of which seems like obvious concerns for those involved in hammering out a compromise.
Pachter: Netflix, Microsoft To Partner For Xbox 360 Video Delivery? [Gamasutra]
Dawdle
Posted to Movies-DVDs on 31 May 2008
· Comments (5)
Other stuff like this: microsoft, netflix, pachter, partner, rumor, xbox 360
I'd be rather surprised if the PS3 was left out - neither Sony nor Netflix would be benefited by doing so, especially considering that the average hard drive size of the PS3 is far greater, and while the install base is not as great yet, it's not a stretch to simply stream the video to both platforms.
But - you never know. There might be backroom money involved (much like the old Universal HD-DVD deal, until Blu-Ray finally won).
Maybe a Blockbuster PS3 deal... in 2010. Cos they are usually late to the party.
I'd be interested to see how this works, if they do set it up. Download it then watch? Or stream? (I'd say streaming, so you can't keep it, and don't have to wait for it to finish downloading) I'm intrigued, because as a Mac user, I can't take advantage of Netflix's streaming service. If I could use my 360, that'd be sweet!
I would rather see Netflix streaming on the PS3 - but I can see why for the market share alone netflix is working on a deal with Microsoft.
I have been confused about this whole netflix thing for a while. I already subscribe to netflix. Though the concept of watching streaming movies is appealing, what isn't appealing (more appaling actually) is the crappy B movie selection Netflix offers through their current streaming service. If this problem doesn't solve itself, no one is going to care about this feature, regardless of what platform it's on.
And I can guarantee that no one will ever buy their $99 set top box without a better streaming movie selection.
The added question would be what's going to happen to the XBL movie download service if Netflix does get A list movies. I doubt the two can co-exist.