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Netflix to Offer Movie Downloads

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the only-a-matter-of-time dept.

kev0153 writes "Over at CNN Money they are reporting on a story about Netflix offering a video on demand over the web service in '05. They are also eyeing the multibillion-dollar video game market. "We're playing it a little defensively, because if we lose the digital download market, you'll soon be hearing about the rise and fall of Netflix," said Netflix CEO Reed Hastings."

6 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. No matter how flexible the DRM by TheKidWho · · Score: 4, Informative

    Someone will still be upset about the DRM and decide to crack it. Then again movies are harder to distribute then mp3s. At least high quality ones.

  2. Download Speed by Luminari · · Score: 5, Informative

    Download speeds for files as large as full games and video are still too slow. Video download services are going to be a niche market until that can be improved. I hope netflix isn't staking their near term future on this.

  3. Video games...VERY smart by TrentL · · Score: 5, Informative

    I read an article about 6 months ago where the Netflix guys said they weren't interested in the video game market. I'm glad they've wised up.

    In the meantime, Gamefly is an excellent video game rental service. The pricing and service are almost identical to Netflix.

  4. Re:Netflix? by Patik · · Score: 5, Informative
    Come out from under your rock.

    It's an online DVD rental system -- you pick out DVDs to rent, they mail them to you. You can keep them as long as you want, no late fees -- but you can only have three checked out at a time. $20/month, they pay for shipping both ways (USPS first class). Huge selection, lots of hard to find movies, in ~20 warehouses around the U.S.

  5. Re:Does downloading games require a mod chip? by Gabriele+Capone · · Score: 3, Informative

    The article doesn't say that they are going to offer downloadable video games. It just says that they may enter the market for renting them.

  6. Other services already do this by kamapuaa · · Score: 3, Informative
    Another DVD-by-mail service, Greencine already does this, with WMA and DivX - I've only done the video preview, but it appears to work pretty well. The problem is that movies are apparently hard to license for online viewing - mostly just obscurish indie movies, and porn.

    To be honest, I can't see movies being so much quicker to license these rights to Netflix, even if it is larger than Greencine.

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