iMediaPress

Now Playing: Netflix on XBOX 360

July 14th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

Starting this fall, XBOX 360 will be able to stream movies from Netflix, according to an announcement made at E3 Media and Business summit in Los Angeles. Netflix has an impressive selection of over 10,000 movies ready to stream compared to XBOX Live’s half sized library of movies. This is definitely bad news for Roku Inc, considering that XBOX 360’s prices going down by $50 making it more affordable. Buyers can use the XBox 360 as a one stop box for games, DVD video playback and now Netflix streaming. We had previously reported on Roku making a Set Top box for Netflix for streaming movies. The box is priced at $100 and is definitely cheaper than the $349 price tag on the next generation 60GB XBOX 360’s.

The popularity of the Roku device already has proven that Netflix subscribers want to be able to stream entertainment from the Internet to their TVs.

A growing library of more than 10,000 movies and TV episodes will be available from Netflix when it launches on Xbox LIVE in late fall, with more choices added over time.

“Netflix and Xbox 360 are a perfect combination, the leading online movie rental service and the leading games and entertainment system joining forces to create an all-in-one entertainment experience with content for everyone, For Netflix, it represents an important step forward in making instantly streaming movies on the TV more broadly available to our members.”

said Reed Hastings, chairman and CEO of Netflix.

According to Wikipedia, over 19 million XBOX units have sold worldwide. This deal is a double win for NetFlix which not only will benefit from several possible new customers but also potentialy see it’s operating costs go down as more customers move to streaming instead of shipping movies home. Netflix shares were up 2.6% on the news.

SOURCE: Microsoft