Netflix adds 2,500 streaming movies from Starz

Update October 1, 4:20 a.m. PDT: Netflix has officially announced the partnership, and says that the first 1,000 or so Starz titles are now available.

A major complaint with Netflix's current selection of streaming movies and shows available through its "Watch Now" service is that it doesn't contain enough recent titles. Now, according to several reports online, it looks as though Netflix is looking to change that.

On Wednesday, the company plans to announce a new partnership with Starz to offer subscribers 2,500 additional movies from Starz Play. Starz Play's selection includes current hits such as No Country for Old Men, Superbad, and Ratatouille, as well as indie films, concerts, and classic movies. The first 1,000 of those movies, added to Netflix's current offering of 12,000, should, supposedly, be available immediately, but they are not available on Netflix's site yet. Expect the update to come sometime on Wednesday.

This is big news for Netflix, which has been struggling to sign studios up to make their new releases available for instant watching. In terms of new releases, this deal gets Netflix one step closer to being on the same level as the on-demand offerings from Comcast and Verizon. Netflix's overall library, however, goes deeper than Comcast's or Verizon's because it offers many classics on top of these newly added new releases. Additionally, this deal allows subscribers to stream the Starz TV network on their PCs.

The best part of this news, for Netflix subscribers, is that all of this extra content isn't going to cost them a dime. All Netflix subscribers with unlimited subscriptions (those $8.99 and up) will have access to the Starz Play selections. When you pair this news with this summer's release of Roku's killer set-top box for Netflix and this fall's Xbox 360 dashboard update, which will enable Netflix streaming, Netflix's service is looking more attractive every day.

[ncalishome]

Really a drawback having to use IE, but Netflix "Watch Instantly" comes in handy really a lot.. I checked a few of the new movies above listed as "not available" and they all appear to be at this time (a couple hours later), in fact think I'm going to put on Superbad right now :)

I do hope Netflix will get their act together and offer some cross-browser/platform support.... IE, ugh

[mrockman]

If you're a Firefox user like me, I found the IE Tab add-on to be a reasonable compromise until Netflix gets around to adding support for more browsers.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419

[catch23]

Talk to the movie studios about that one. They require DRM, and MS is the only option there. (Apple refuses to license theirs. They want you to use iTunes)

I heard something about Netflix moving to Silverlight a while back. That would make it work anywhere. Anyone else hear that?

[RighteousSoutherner]

What a dumb comment. IE is far superior to Firefox. I've tried both and Firefox absolutely sucks. It's buggy, unrefined and cumbersome to use compared to IE 8.

[Shoogle2]

"IE is far superior to Firefox"? Oh, I LOVE a good joke. Thanks for the laugh!

[smilin:)]

"IE is far superior to Firefox. I've tried both and Firefox absolutely sucks. It's buggy, unrefined and cumbersome to use compared to IE 8. "

..Agreed.

[Leo7810]

Still waiting for them to make this service available for Mac OSX.

[catch23]

Complain to Apple. They want you to use iTunes, so don't expect them to license FairPlay any time soon.

[funyun2]

Netflix said that they'd do it by the end of 2008.
Stupid Steve Jobs

[ikramerica--2008]

They claim that it's not their fault, but everyone else's fault. The only true DRM is the one they use. Hogwash. I can watch windows based DRM files on the Mac through Quicktime and Flip4Mac and they are still protected (can't save them) so it's really a laziness factor on the part of Netflix.

[catch23]

Flip4Mac is $100 a license... Who the heck is paying for that?
I blame those responsible, which is Apple not licensing their DRM in an attempt to drive their users to their products.
Just like not allowing iPhone apps that compete with anything they do.
It is a closed, restricted platform and you use it the way they tell you to, or spend $$$ getting around it.

[HD1080p]

Any news on Mac adoption/inclusion?

[stc4life]

http://blog.netflix.com/2008/10/new-content-to-watch-instantly.html

[sanenazok]

I got the roku box for watch it now and never looked back! I knew it was only going to get better and better.

[sandor_f]

I have been a long time Netflix subscriber and find it appalling that they do not support any platform other than Windows.

This is as bad (if not worse, since they are a national company) as smaller companies who only support single browsers, and ridiculously limiting proprietary schemes that only run through Internet Explorer.

[renGek]

If your resources is limited then its practical to concentrate on the largest customer base. I have a similar issue at work. A manager keeps telling me to spend 50% of my development time on safari and 50% on windows. While I am not a windows lover I tell him thats just not practical since our user base is 2% mac and 97% windows. I'm not doing overtime just so he can appease those 2%. Thats silly. If he wanted mac support he can hire someone dedicated to doing that. So if netlfix's development resource is limited then I can understand why. Money drives all.

[epionpilot]

Well for those of you who want other platforms supported other then IE well send netflix some money some labor or they can just start charging more for there service. I agree with others posts here it cost money to develope for other platforms ,why spend large amounts of time and money especially if its not for a large percentage of the consumer. Eventually they will offer different choices but give them time.

[bblackmoor]

Unfortunately, bafflingly, infuriatingly, NetFlix's "Watch Now" service is ONLY available to their customers who use Microsoft Internet Explorer -- the one web browser NO ONE should be using. What is this, 1998? That is just plain ridiculous.

[bleu_tropix]

the selection is now up and running on netflix. this is awesome!

[Lancashire]

That is pretty sad! We had Starz on our Directv and canceled it because they did NOT have any current movies and kept repeating all the old ones.

[grasshopper51]

This feature will run using Firefox. Just install the IE Tab add-on. I have watched several movies this way. I stopped using IE over a year ago.

[cancerman1013]

I concur with grasshopper51. Also, I just set up a home theater PC this weekend with Vista Media Center and added the vmcNetflix plugin, which is way better to watch than through the browser. Plus you can download for later if your ISP or wifi sux! This new Starz feature will be great! With options like these, people will actually decrease illegal bootleg downloading! (not that I do any of that)

[beeriley]

I have been using a Roku device to stream "instant" movies via Netflix for many months now.
There are serious problems with the encoding of the Starz content. The movies are too blurry to watch for many users. This was not a problem prior to the addition of the Starz content. Only the Starz content has this problem; previously available titles work great.

This will force some customers to explore altyernatives to Netflix.

[dgibb2000]

Even with the additional content, the selection sucks. Went back to block buster for the instore exchanges.