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Netflix To Lift Streaming Limits

Posted by kdawson on from the oh-my-groaning-pipes dept.

The AP has a story on Netflix's move to head off expected competition from Apple: the company will lift limits on streaming its movies for most subscribers. The story reports on rumors of an Apple movie-download service that may be announced by Steve Jobs on Tuesday. In the past Netflix has imposed limits on how long its subscribers could watch streamed movies; for example, those who paid $16.99/mo. could stream up to 17 hours per month. The limits will end on Monday for most subscribers (except for those paying $4.99 for two DVD rentals a month, said to be a small minority). The company has 6,000 movies available for streaming, compared to 90,000 that you can get delivered in the mail.

6 of 249 comments (clear)

  1. Typo in the story title. by palegray.net · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've seen some typos in story bodies recently, but not in a story title... who is Netfilx? Are they the new, hot, up-and-coming competitor to Netflix?

    --
    512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
    1. Re:Typo in the story title. by edwardpickman · · Score: 5, Funny

      I don't know I use Blockbutser.

  2. Compete with Apple? by Laguerre · · Score: 5, Informative

    Of course, you can't watch streaming movies on Netflix with a Mac...

  3. But is it still IE and Windows only? by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF · · Score: 5, Interesting

    System Requirements:

    • Computer running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or higher, or Windows Vista
    • Internet Explorer version 6 or higher
    • Windows Media Player version 11 (DRM version 5145) or later

    Well gee, that makes the service pretty much useless to me unless I want to watch movies in a VM on my laptop, instead of on my TV. No thanks. I told them a year ago that if they didn't come up with viable solution Blockbuster or Apple would and that would probably be enough to make me switch. They replied back with a comment that it was impossible but that as soon as MS's silverlight technology was good enough they'd use that. Who in their right minds would bet the future of their company on a technology that is both completely controlled by Microsoft and in a market MS will probably want to compete in? I foresee the end of Netflix.

  4. Let's Check by markdavis · · Score: 5, Insightful

    DRM: Check
    Low-def only: Check
    Low bitrate: Check
    Watch only on computer: Check
    Poor selection: Check
    No non-streaming option: Check
    No Linux support: Check
    No MacOS support: Check

    I am ***so*** excited about the limits being lifted on my Netflix account!! Guess I will continue to use their old-fashioned DVD's. I *do* like Netflix, have used them for years, but this whole "Watch It Now" thing is about as interesting to me as watching grass grow.

  5. Re:Won't work on macs by (negative+video) · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh. I thought he was bragging about having a wife.