LG HDTV to Download Movies via Netflix

LG Electronics announced a range of Internet-enabled televisions on Monday that can stream movies from the Netflix rental service. The companies will show the televisions at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week, a year after they first announced their plans to work together on a set-top box for downloading movies.

The new televisions will have Ethernet connections allowing Netflix members to stream high-definition content over the Internet, LG said. It plans to release plasma and LCD models in the first half of this year.

These are not the first high-definition devices on which the companies have collaborated: LG recently announced an Internet-enabled Blu-ray disc player, the BD300, which can also download movies from Netflix. That company's customers pay upwards of $8.99 a month to rent DVDs from a catalog or to stream unlimited movies to compatible devices. Netflix boasts a catalog of 100,000 DVD titles and 12,000 titles available through its streaming service.

LG recently announced plans to allow its Internet-enabled Blu-ray players to stream content from YouTube and from CinemaNow, another online movie rental service.

Users of the new Netflix-enabled televisions will be able to choose movies directly on screen using the television remote control. Streaming a movie through the Blu-ray player involves using a PC to add it to a queue of movies to watch.

Netflix is also working with other consumer electronics manufacturers to incorporate support for its movie streaming service in their devices. Samsung released a Blu-ray player, the BD-P2500, in December with similar functionality to the LG BD300. And with Roku, it developed a set-top box that streams standard-definition movies from a queue created using a PC to access the Netflix Web site.

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Netflix Partners With TiVo

Movie rental website Netflix is finally joining forces with TiVo to allow subscribers to get access to more movies and TV episodes.

The partnership has been a long time coming, and will take effect in early December in the US.

TiVo will deliver selections of Netflix's 12,000 movies and TV shows to owners of TiVo's latest digital video recorders (DVRs).

The content is delivered over high-speed broadband connections and it goes live in December.

Netflix is the largest online DVD rental service, offering flat rate rental-by-mail movies as well as online streaming to customers.

The deal between Netflix and TiVo has been in the works for four years because Netflix couldn't obtain licensing deals to stream movies and TV shows via the Web.

Netflix finally got its video ducks in order almost two years ago, but both companies had partnered with different companies by that time and so a TiVo-Netflix partnership never got past the opening credits.

TiVo executives also said questions about a TiVo-Netflix partnership were the most often asked queries by customers.

TiVo is currently partnered with Amazon, Disney, YouTube and Jaman, a site where people can find, watch and review movies. TiVo has used its partnerships to sell itself as a unique service that is different than the PVRs and DVRs hawked by local cable providers.

So when it comes to the Netflix partnership, TiVo users will get access to the streaming service at no extra charge. The only catch: They have to be a Netflix subscriber who pays at least $8.99 per month for movie rentals.

Netflix is also facing increased competition, and strategic partnerships have given the company a strong foothold in the budding movie download industry. Netflix has partnerships with LG and Samsung who sell Blu-ray players with built-in Netflix support, and Netflix has even partnered with big boys like Microsoft who announced they would stream high-def Netflix movies to gamers via the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live.

Netflix has seen strong growth, and its profits are up 30 per cent despite a weak economy.

And the more streaming services Netflix can offer, the better it is for the company's bottom line. The company has to cough up $0.84 for every DVD rental sent by mail, so streaming services cut back on overhead.

Netflix team up with FeedFlix

Feedflix is a relatively new service that socializes Netflix. We all know how popular socail networks are nowadays so this is a clever move by Netflix.

What do Netflix users GET?
They get a profile page, including connections to other similar Netflix members and an RSS feed for the member's account including checked-out movies, queued movies, and reviewed movies.

They also get little pie graphs showing things like the average amount of time they keep a movie checked out.


How does FeedFlix work?

FeedFlix parses data out of Netflix RSS feeds and turns Netflix into a rudimentary social network. Though, it's not really very social yet. Every Netflix user has an RSS feed that includes information about the movies in your queue, the movies you have out, and which you've reviewed or recommended. Feedflix parses those feeds and tracks your account activity to create some helpful data that can be used to get the most out of Netflix.

Probably the most helpful piece of data Feedflix gives you, is how long you keep your rentals on average before sending them back to Netflix. The data is presented in an easy to grasp pie chart and could certainly help people determine if they are getting the most out of their Netflix plan. Incidentally, Feedflix also keeps charts on their community as a whole -- so they have data based on a small sample of which are the most popular Netflix plans, how long people keep movies, etc.

What Feedflix also does is create a public profile page for every user (example) and can suggest other Netflix users who are waiting for the same type of movies as you. That adds something of a social element to the service, although they haven't yet built any real social interaction features around it.

That would be smart though. FeedFlix could theoretically build out a Flixter-like movie social network around Netflix. Clever!

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Blockbuster turns to the net to survive

As Blockbuster Inc. continues to slug it out with rival Netflix Inc., it?s staking its claims to differentiation and its future on a bid to be a multi-channel retailer and not just a DVD rental company. And in repositioning to a multi-platform strategy, the Internet and e-commerce figure to play a big role.

A recent overhaul to Blockbuster.com sets the stage for multi-channel offerings, CEO Jim Keyes is telling analysts this spring. For example, Keyes says that customers will be able to purchase movie downloads from Blockbuster.com by the end of the second quarter. The company also plans to experiment with digital downloads at kiosks in stores.

Blockbuster?s $6.6 million acquisition last year of Movielink LLC, which has an inventory of thousands of movies and TV shows, will facilitate the company?s ability to provide digital content to a variety of formats, including personal computers, portable devices, and, eventually, home TV screens.

Blockbuster also is using a marketing deal with Yahoo to generate more sales online and in stores, and it has announced plans to partner with Paramount Pictures and MTV Networks to offer exclusive digital content. Read more about the Blockbuster Yahoo deal.

The company expects to spend some $130 million this year on capital projects including $40 million on information technology and web infrastructure upgrades.

?As new entertainment technologies emerge, consumer options multiply,? Keyes notes. ?All of these initiatives underscore our determination to position Blockbuster as the only provider of media content across all platforms?in-store, by mail and by digital download.?

Blu-Ray wins Netflix vote

Netflix has announced today that it will exclusively stock Blu-ray high-definition DVDs after a decision by some the world's biggest movie studios in favour of the Sony developed format.

Netflix has stocked DVDs using both Blu-ray and the competing HD DVD format developed by Toshiba since they first came on the market in early 2006.

Four out of six major Hollywood studios have recently decided to publish high-definition DVDs only using Blu-ray. Netflix said that with such a clear signal from the industry, it will only buy Blu-ray discs going forward and will phase out stock of HD DVD by about the end of the year.

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Netflix to offer unlimited online movie streaming

Netflix will begin offering unlimited online movie streaming from a library of over 6,000 movies to customers on their $16.99 plan starting Monday.

The move is said to be in response to the expected announcement by Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the Macworld Expo Tuesday that iTunes will offer movie rentals from most major studios. The expected price of the iTunes rented movies is $3.99 each, putting Netflix is a competitive position for high value regular movie watchers.

Netflix has previously offered limited movie streaming to its 7 million + customers, but capped the streaming access at 17 hours a month.

According to AP, the offer will not be available to Netflix customers currently on the $4.99/ mth 2 DVD plan.

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