Hi Netflix, thank you for taking my advice (although not quite what I was thinking).

Netflix announced today that they'll be adding a online movie download to their services. That sounds completely normal right? Now here is the weird part (or how it works):

Current subscribers will be able to watch streaming movies for the same number of hours as they pay in dollars for subscription fees. So users with the $5.99 plan will be able to watch movies online for 6 hours, $17.99 plan for 18 hours. They only have 1000 movies online right now but plans to roll out more.

This feels like a pure fishing expedition, an experimental rollout to see what kind of demand is out there. I'm guessing if this is popular, they'll come out with plans with extended online downloads and online only plans. I still think the internet is not quite ready for streaming movies yet, especially with the HD adoption rate right now.

One thing I'm pretty sure of: If Netflix does move fully into the online movie business, they'll destroy CinemaNow with their brand identity.

Labels: movie