Post by Skaggs on Oct 26, 2009 8:55:31 GMT -5
Netflix Movies Stream to Sony’s PlayStation 3
October 26, 2009, 12:00 am
By Brad Stone, New York Times
Next month, the 9 million U.S. owners of Sony’s PlayStation 3 game consoles will have another entertainment option available to them: streaming movies and TV shows from Netflix.
The long-awaited announcement gives Netflix another distribution channel for its “Watch Instantly” service, which is already available via the Microsoft Xbox 360, a variety of Blu-ray players and HDTVs, TiVo and the Roku box.
Sony makes its own Internet movie store available from the PS3, with new-release films and TV shows costing $3 to $4. The Netflix service is available only to people who pay a monthly subscription of $8.99 or more for its DVD-by-mail plan, and its catalog includes content that is usually more than a year old.
The PS3 implementation of Netflix is not the most elegant. PS3 owners will have to order a special, free disc from Netflix and pop it into their gaming console whenever they want to access the Netflix queue and watch a movie. Sony and Netflix seem to suggest this is a short-term solution, until an upgrade next year in the PS3 software.
Reed Hastings, Netflix’s chief executive, said that the coming wave of Internet-enabled televisions and Blu-ray players will take a decade to get into most homes. Embedding Netflix in gaming consoles like the PS3 is a more immediate way to get the service out to people now.
Asked whether agreements like this one will help Netflix to expand the catalog of content available for instant streaming, Mr. Hastings said that is more a function of the company’s overall 11.1 million
subscriber base. “Our ability to license more content is based on what checks we can write,” he said. “If getting on the PS3 helps our subscriber base grow, that helps us write bigger checks.”
October 26, 2009, 12:00 am
By Brad Stone, New York Times
Next month, the 9 million U.S. owners of Sony’s PlayStation 3 game consoles will have another entertainment option available to them: streaming movies and TV shows from Netflix.
The long-awaited announcement gives Netflix another distribution channel for its “Watch Instantly” service, which is already available via the Microsoft Xbox 360, a variety of Blu-ray players and HDTVs, TiVo and the Roku box.
Sony makes its own Internet movie store available from the PS3, with new-release films and TV shows costing $3 to $4. The Netflix service is available only to people who pay a monthly subscription of $8.99 or more for its DVD-by-mail plan, and its catalog includes content that is usually more than a year old.
The PS3 implementation of Netflix is not the most elegant. PS3 owners will have to order a special, free disc from Netflix and pop it into their gaming console whenever they want to access the Netflix queue and watch a movie. Sony and Netflix seem to suggest this is a short-term solution, until an upgrade next year in the PS3 software.
Reed Hastings, Netflix’s chief executive, said that the coming wave of Internet-enabled televisions and Blu-ray players will take a decade to get into most homes. Embedding Netflix in gaming consoles like the PS3 is a more immediate way to get the service out to people now.
Asked whether agreements like this one will help Netflix to expand the catalog of content available for instant streaming, Mr. Hastings said that is more a function of the company’s overall 11.1 million
subscriber base. “Our ability to license more content is based on what checks we can write,” he said. “If getting on the PS3 helps our subscriber base grow, that helps us write bigger checks.”
