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

This idea comes from a random Skpecast conversation from last night...

New model for movie consumption: Just like Netflix, you can keep x number of movies in your possession at any given time, you have to return the movies in order to get more, but all of this is done online.

Internet technology isn't quite there to stream HD content to your TVs and computers, but you could easily have a set top box or a computer that downloads the content in the background or overnight. Once downloaded, you watch the movie, then "send it back" (delete it), at which point the device will download another movie from your queue. Very similar to Netflix, but minus the hassle of having to ship it.

I think this would work great with some existing service such as Netflix, TiVo, or Xbox live. The logistics might be a nightmare though, as MPAA, like RIAA, is extremely paranoid of piracy and DRM will be slapped on everywhere. However, as a customer, the subscription model might be easier to swallow with DRM than having to buy a digital movie (or music) with all sorts of restrictions on it.

Labels: movie