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Netflix to Offer Movie Downloads
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."
They are also eyeing the multibillion-dollar video game market video game market.
They must be eyeing it with both eyes.
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The servers with the porn titles better have some mighty good hardware.
The coolest voice ever.
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.
Hastings expects that Internet VOD market is still relatively small, with relatively long download times for even those with cable or DSL Internet connections.
Is there a rental timeframe? Wouldn't it suck if your download didn't finish before the period was up?
"Just 5K more to go! Just -- "
"Sorry. Your rental period for 'My Pipes Need Cleaning' has expired. Thank you and please come again."
The coolest voice ever.
I guess they want to take on the currently established market leader....Kazza. I just hope Netflix edits out those annoying messages, the ones that say this is a screener copy only so call this number if you are not suppose to be watching this.
DVD writers probably have something to do with this. With the release of personal dual layer DVD writers, the world of (DVD) movie rentals will change.
I don't think anybody can launch a Hollywood-movies-on-demand without having the cable companies on board. They can place servers closer to their users, and have the advantage of being able to allocate more bandwidth to themselves on their cable systems. They're going to have an advantage over any outside provider...
Is not announcing your product an entire year ahead of launch - giving your competitors plenty of time to catch up.
Case in point: Apple suprising everyone with iTMS - and than not getting a windows version out until all the other win music stores were released.
Uhh, the previous post should probably read:
They're still developing their Video-On-Demand system. That probably should read:
They are also eyeing the multibillion-dollar bufferring...bufferring... video game market.
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.
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.
I'm already copying and burning DVDs from netflix as fast as I can get them. Game rentals will be awesome for my stock pile.
Getting ready for the day when everyones dead, except me. And the power is still on. Oh yeah, and my girlfriend will be there too.
Yea for piracy. I love piracy. It feels like I'm making money!
will they be starting abm.netflix? or maybe #netflix on some dcc friendly irc network??
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Dude, I hear what you're saying, but there's a difference between voting with your wallet and a company making a product that works properly from the get-go. It doesn't make sense to me that a coporation would make something closed and spend billions of dollars defending their product from crackers, anti-trust lawsuits, and constant requirements for upgrades. The way it works today is any closed proprietary format _will_ be broken and made available to the public. Why fight it? Just create something that works for everyone and you'll save yourself a lot of hassle and dollars in the long run. And you'll look good to the hacker community and the public, to boot. Then again, I'm not a corporate vice president of legal affairs/development/marketing/etc., so I have zero badges to wear that will allow me to crow about this with any credibility.
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Lion's Gate (LGF ) owns a majority stake in CinemaNow, the closest competition. LGF stock has been all over the place in the past few months due to Video-On-Demand deals with major studios. Unlike LGF, which grew from strength to strength after acquiring Artisan Films, is based in Hollywood, and has exclusive rights to several hundred movies as well as ties with the major players in the entertainment business, Netflix is more a rental mall for DVDs.
otoh, Netflix's CEO has been predicting his entry into the VOD market for the past few years, and they did trails with sample footage for most DVDs.
Competition's always beneficial to the consumer.