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LG & Netflix Team Up to Offer Downloadable Movies on TV
eldavojohn writes "It might seem like they've come full circle, but the movie injection method has gone from TV to mail to online download to TV on demand. And Netflix & LG are betting it's going to be a hit. They're also betting you will want to buy yet another device for your home theater. A Wall Street Journal article notes: 'The partnership between Netflix, Los Gatos, Calif., and South Korea's LG represents another gamble by technology companies that video from the Internet, which is commonly downloaded to personal computers, will go mainstream when users can easily access it from TV sets. So far, Internet television products such as Apple Inc.'s Apple TV have largely been unsuccessful, stymied by a poor selection of videos, complexity of use and other shortcomings.'"
Not stupid at all.
I'm a Netflix subscriber, and having a nice organized Que is very convenient. If they found a way to stream that to my TV, I'd have no problems renting/buying another device for my "home theatre".
AppleTV doesn't appeal to me that much, because of it's too-tight integration to iTunes and iTMS, so a nice "open" device tied to my Netflix que would fit the bill perfectly.
And Steve may have been too late on the ball regarding the whole rental and movies deal.
Yes, my iPod touch displays videos beautifully, but guess how many of them I've watched? Maybe 2 hours of NBC's office (thanks trackers). Videos on the go, just aren't something that most people (other than the bus/train riders) would have enough time to do.
It will be a battle of content, and I'd rather rent movies from Netflix than from iTunes, considering Netflix's excellent customer service and ease of use.
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
The Netflix advantage is that they have a larger catalog of content and they are actually willing to distribute it.
That's always been their advantage.
The download aspect of this might not make as much sense yet but that won't remain the case forever.
This could also give consumers a cheaper path to HD content that would not require buying into one side of the format war.
Local cable providers are far too drunk on the power they think they have by being a natural monopoly to really listen to the customer.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
... with an s-video cable. The only difference is that now they want me to pay for it.
- "Nobody came out that night, not one was ever seen. But Old Man Stauf is waiting there, crazy sick and mean!"
And cable companies have been better placed to do this for a long time. But Netflix is the one doing it and winning. The cable companies aren't. I love it when someone tries to argue that something isn't happening because they don't think it could happen. Especially when that thing is staring them in the face. Movie streaming from Netflix is here, it works and it's pretty good. A lot of content, good controls, good pricing. The cable companies are doing nothing in comparison. Netflix is on to a winner here, especially given that they have the content already, and you don't need cable internet (I have DSL) to do it.