Netflix CEO hopes to stream to PS3, Wii, iPhone

Reed Hastings, Netflix CEO

(Credit: Netflix)

Although it has no immediate plans to do so, online video rental service Netflix is hoping to bring its video-streaming service to Sony's PlayStation 3, Nintendo's Wii, and Apple's iPhone, CEO Reed Hastings said in a recent interview with Reuters.

Hastings told Reuters that his hope is that Netflix's streaming service will eventually "be on all the game consoles, all the Blu-ray players, (and) all the Internet TVs." But as Hastings pointed out, his company has signed a deal with Microsoft to deliver Netflix streaming exclusively to the Xbox 360 in the video game space.

The chances of that changing anytime soon are slim, though Hastings said his company is "working in parallel" to achieve his goal of bringing Netflix streaming to all the aforementioned devices. While Netflix is likely to offer such a service on the iPhone and iPod Touch "over time," he said there is little chance of Netflix video streaming becoming available in the App Store "in the short term."

Despite rumors indicating that a Netflix app is already on its way to the App Store, Hastings would not give a timetable: "(With) movie watching, we are not focused on mobile yet, but (instead) on the TV, on Blu-ray, and on the video game consoles. We will get to mobile eventually, including the iPhone."

Hastings also chimed in on the recent announcement that Blockbuster might be closing up to 960 retail locations. He told Reuters that the closures "don't really benefit" Netflix.

Netflix's focus, Hastings, said, is on streaming video and maintaining a big catalog of available titles. Blockbuster, he said, "competes on doing the inexpensive new releases." He said Redbox would be the company that would benefit most from the closure of Blockbuster stores.

[superjay77]

Awaiting the PS3 fanboys to rush in. Hootin and Hollering.

[kewell82]

Hoot, Hoot, Hoot, HHHoooollllllllllllll!

[NervClaX]

Woot! That XBox360 exclusivity is temporary I'm sure. It probably has a date right on the contract. Any day now...

[thelemurking]

I recently bought the PS3 Slim for both gaming and Blu Ray, so I would love to have Netflix on my PS3. Right now, I keep a laptop connected to the VGA port on my TV for Netflix and Hulu.

[celticbrewer]

Hoot Hoot!

No wait, I'm already streaming Netflix, Hulu, and dozens of others on my PS3. netflix can take their sweet arse time with whatever they're doing. I'm more than happy right now.

[kewell82]

Netflix streaming is a crappy service. The video quality is just aweful unless you spend a fortune and get 20mb fiber optic running straight to your house.

[arj8138]

False. I currently have around a steady 10mpbs connection through Comcast and the videos look great streaming on my TiVo HD on my TV.... they looked equally as awesome on my mothers DSL connection through the TiVo HD on her new HD TV.

[dd13reis]

I have to disagree. I have Netflix streaming running through a TiVo wireless adapter and I have been quite impressed by the quality. It's not Blu-ray-like quality, but it's quite nice, in my experience.

BTW: I don't have Fiber optic. I use standard old Time Warner Cable Road Runner. I'm getting about 15Mbps down.

-Don

[rucknrun]

It isn't a fortune where I live and it works great. I wish the library was a little larger though.

[ddesy]

Netflix streaming on a good PC is not very good at all regardless of bandwidth. They don't provide a high enough bitrate stream to get high quality!

[Turgeson]

Is it Blu-Ray or even DVD quality? No. Is it instantaneous and reasonably clear with few buffer interuptions? ABSOLUTELY. For what Netflix charges, it's a great service that sure beats paying for a movie you may or may not like after driving to get it. If you know anything about what kind of infrastructure it takes to support their demand, it's even more amazing. The technology will only get better. Once they get the quality up a bit, it will put a huge dent in the Blu-Ray market where they are limited to only collectors and people who can't stand anything less than the best picture possible when it really doesn't matter.

[kewell82]

Arj8138, "You Lie" I also have DSL and the quality of Netflix on the Xbox is pathetic.

[myles taylor]

I had streaming with 3 mbps and it was fine. It didn't get spotty on my 32" TV until the speed dropped below 1 mbps. Maybe you had a bad experience, but I thought it was fine.

My only complaint was the library was pathetic.

[PvtPockets]

I would agree with you for the Xbox360 before the last update. After the update the service is much faster and looks great, all with 10mbs comcast.

[SlimGem]

I have a Roku box and cable broadband and the Netflix streaming is excellent. It appears to be just as good as DVD. I'm considering getting a PS3 and integrating Netflix would be awesome. Looks like Microsoft did something smart with this move.

[celticbrewer]

I have only 3 Mbps service and streaming looks mighty fine to me. Definitely DVD quality at leat. Surely not BR quality, but since I mainly stream older movies and TV shows, it's more than acceptable.

[BtmnHatesRbn]

Netflix runs fine on my cheapo 2 mbps cable modem, even during the evening. If this moves to the Xbox 360, and I can rebuy the downloaded content on iTunes, PSP, or Steam, then I'm finally going to sell my $8-a-month-just-to-go-online console. I would prefer the service elsewhere. iPhone seems nice, if they can get it working. Would save me a lot of trouble with my step-dad complaining about nothing good on TV. Hell, me too!

[Scott 56]

This is a nonsense interview. Hopes to have it. BUT Not in the short term. Points out that has exclusive with Xbox. "The chances of that changing anytime soon is slim".

How stupid is this article?! Doesn't cnet have editors anymore or can the children publish whatever gobbledygook they feel like?

[Turgeson]

Netflix is the best example of what Silverligh tcan do. For MS to let other platforms use it, Adobe is going to have to do something to flash where Apple/Sony/Nintendo/Google can offer something comparably priced but better quality. If YouTube actually starts offering movies with a library similar to Netflix, the competition will force Ballmer to broaden MS's horizon's beyond just the XBox.

[catch23]

Anyone want to give odds on Apple allowing any kind of movie service other then the iTunes store?
0%, perhaps?

[NervClaX]

This App as been rejected because it duplicates the function of Apple software.

Sincerely,
Steve F'in Jobs

[celticbrewer]

LOL @ Nerv.

Dear Steve F'in Jobs,

Here's your sign... I mean fine.

Sincerely,
The Freakin FCC

[grantlairdjr]

Please do not forget deaf community who depends on closed captioning or subtitle on all streaming movies.

PLEASE offer CC when these new service become available, not wait till later.

Hope I am not asking too much :(

[jug831]

Works great on my wired Tivo HD, 20mb. Not so great on my MBP wireless N on the same 20mb. I heard that the Tivo uses a different format that the Silverlight uses, which may explain why the people above report good results with Tivo.

Problem is most of the content available is crap. I like 80's movies as much as the next guy, but come on with some newer stuff already! Or really work on having TV shows available for streaming the day after the show airs. That would be of value. As it is now, not much value at all.

If I had to pay extra for this now, I would not use it.

[Smilingred73]

What about Closed Captions.. I figured that should be on the top of your list. I used to be a member, but decided not to continue due to online streaming not providing captions. Come on... how hard is that?

[colinnnwn]

Turns out it is pretty hard. Doing a whole reencode of the instant play library would be storage and time prohibitive. It will have to be done as overlay files, and Silverlight support isn't there yet.This is more Microsoft's fault than Netflix. But to be fair Netflix chose Silverlight. Again though, due to studio DRM requirements, there weren't a lot of choices Netflix had.

[SteveW928]

Is it just me? or does this article really tell us nothing. More like 'incoherent rambling wish-list of a media CEO'..... 'um, gosh, I'd like to one day have my media available on all the computers, game consoles, and mobile devices.... but it will probably be a long way off, and we don't really know how we're going to do it.' Gee thanks!

[iowampb39]

PS3 Owners already can and do enjoy Netflix & HULU streaming.

But would be nice to have it without requiring a PC to stream it from. I always have my PC on for my regular Media Server so having it on for Netflix, HULU, etc is no big deal..

[myles taylor]

I would love to see it on my iPhone, although AT&T would probably regulate it to wifi which would make it useless to me.

"Blockbuster, he said, "competes on doing the inexpensive new releases."

Are you kidding me with that!?! Blockbuster new releases were about $5 last time I checked! How is that inexpensive? It was so ridiculous that I stopped going and started going to the little shops. Once I moved to the city I went back to Netflix and added streaming through my Xbox. If the selection of TV shows was a little better I would love it a lot more.

[dubli7310]

Redbox is the way to go, we had Netflix but did not like the service.

[baggyguy1218]

WHAT!! Put down the crack pipe....step away.

[gbwells]

playon will stream netflix to WII and PS3 today.

[rnshagam]

NetFlix can already stream to PS3 andother game boxes. You buy a $40 digital media server app called PlayOn which installs on a home computer. Movies on your instant queue show up on the PS3. Works great--well most of the time. See at http://www.themediamall.com/playon

[griz_fan]

Correct, and, if you act quickly, you can get it for $30. Works fine with my 7Mb/s DSL connection. Previously, I had a 1.5Mb/s connection, not good. But once I moved up to the next tier, it works great. I would consider it DVD quality.

Oh... and anyone who prefers Redbox to Netflix obviously has pretty low standards when it comes to watching movies...

[Sneaky_Elephant_]

http://www.netflix.com/InstantStreamingDisc

Mission Accomplished MY PS3 FANS!!!