Last week the big news for TV viewers was the AppleTV which would allow you to play content you bought at the iTunes store (movies, music videos, tv shows) right on your TV up to 1080p. This week the big news is coming from DVD distribution giant Netflix who are stepping up to the plate to offer streaming movies and TV shows.
USA Today: “The company plans to unveil its Watch Now feature Tuesday. But only a small number of its more than 6 million subscribers will get immediate access to the service, offered at no additional charge.
Netflix expects to introduce instant viewing to about 250,000 additional subscribers each week through June to ensure its computers can cope with the demand.
After accepting a computer applet that takes less than a minute to install, subscribers will be able to watch six hours to 48 hours of material a month on an Internet streaming service that is supposed to prevent piracy.
The allotted viewing time will be tied to how much customers already pay for their DVD rentals. Under Netflix’s most popular $17.99 monthly package, subscribers will receive 18 hours of Internet viewing time.”
Unfortunately the ability to stream movies requires a computer runnning the Windows operating system, a major drawback for those of us on pre-intel Macs. None-the-less, it’s a step in the right direction.