Digital Media

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.

If you're an independent musician looking for as many ways to sell and promote your music as possible, and you or a friend has some experience with software development, you'll want to check out the upcoming Rock Band Network, for which Harmonix and MTV Games plan to begin beta testing in late August.

It's more complicated than posting a song to iTunes, but you'll get placement on a more exclusive platform.

(Credit: MTV Games)

To program songs for the game, you or your developer friend first needs a membership to Microsoft's XNA Creators' Club, which was launched a couple years ago to let independent developers create casual games to sell through the Xbox Live Marketplace; a membership costs $49.99 for four months or $99.99 for a year.

You'll then be able to get free tools and instructions from the Rock Band Creators Web site to convert your master recordings to the MIDI charts used by the game. Next, you'll have to submit your song for other creators to critique and finally to MTV Games for approval.

Once approved, the song will enter the Rock Band Network. All songs will debut exclusively for 30 days on the Xbox 360, and the Rock Band team will pick stand-out songs to make available to the Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii consoles.

Under the network terms, musicians can charge between 50 cents and $3 per song, and they will keep a 30 percent cut of all sales. That may seem small, compared with the 70 percent cut musicians get for selling their songs on iTunes, which requires much less work, but Rock Band is a much more exclusive platform--you're much more likely to stand out here than among the bazillion songs available through Apple's music store.

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Rucker celebrates while playing Madden football on Xbox.

(Credit: Adam Cohen/Microsoft)

Don't deny it, you've derided the band name Hootie &the Blowfish.

Many think the name is silly so the lead singer--the guy everyone thinks is named Hootie--must be silly as well. Darius Rucker is in fact the singer's name and he didn't seem silly when we spoke on the phone last month. He seems friendly and fun-loving and very interested in technology--specifically in video games.

I'll qualify that by noting he's fun up to a point. When he's playing EA Sports' Madden NFL video game, he likes to win and will get nasty if you try to sneak a peek at the plays he's calling. He's also serious when he discusses what EA can do to improve the game.

In a way, video games are helping Rucker as he embarks on a new career as a country-music singer. He's still a member of the Blowfish but his solo album, Learn to Live has sold more than 370,000 copies and the single, "Don't Think I Don't Think About It," has hit No.1 on the country charts. When he's on the road, Rucker unwinds by playing nation-building games on his PC. Last month, Rucker's interest in video games paid off when he was named Microsoft's Xbox Artist of the Month.

Q: What are your favorite consoles and favorite games?
Rucker: PS3 and Xbox are the two I play a lot. I'm a real big sports gamer. I play all the sports games, every new game that comes out. Madden is my big thing. I used to be the greatest Madden player in the world (laughter).

Right now I'm big into the NCAA game, the basketball game. All the EA Sports games are big for me...they should just write me a check for that. On my computer, I love to play the nation-building games: Empire Earth, Empire Earth 3, Civilization...God, so many I played over the last couple of years I can't remember now. I'll play those all the time. I'll play on the hardest level and play the longest game I can play and play it for a couple of weeks if I can...I try to build the biggest city in one game cause I love it. I'm a dork.

Do you do most of your playing on the road or home?
Rucker: Both. My wife goes to bed pretty early, around 10 at night. I'll go up and get a game in on Madden if there's one going. On the road, I'm big with my computer. The nation-building games are huge for me on the road.

Who is the most famous person you've ever played and how did you fare?
Rucker: Oh, wow. Back in the early days of the Madden Bowl, I played a bunch of football players that were pretty famous and I lost in the finals the first year I played. The next year there was a big target on my back. All the EA guys told them I was the man to beat. I'll say this about my game and I wish my wife was here so she could back this up...because her favorite thing to do when people will tell us they play Madden and we'll go "Are you good?" She'll say, "I've heard this a million times. I've heard a million guys say to Darius what you're saying and I'm telling you you're not going to beat him."

Good, huh?
Rucker: I'm pretty undefeated. I don't lose a lot of games. I say to guys all the time when they say they win I say, "Anybody can be king of their crew."

It's true.
Rucker: Anybody can be king of their crew. And don't get me wrong. I go online and get my butt handed to me sometimes. This year they got that play-action pass play that if you do it with (Indianapolis Colts players) Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison, you're going to complete it 90 percent of the time.

Video games have come a long way but what else can they do improve them? What would you like to see?
Rucker: The kudos I will give to all the sports games, especially to Madden, is for the realism they are bringing to the games every year. I used to stay up to three in the morning playing Madden online. This year I went online and I play the first guy and we have a great game and I score two touchdowns in the last three minutes to win by eight. It was a great game. The next guy I play, I'm on defense first, and he runs it three times in a row. The first two times I stop it and I'm thinking he can't run it on me three times. The third time it's a touchdown, 80 yards. I think he can't do it to me the whole time. The next thing I know it is 41-0 and he's running the same play over and over again. And you go "Man, that's not why I'm here. I'm here to pretend it's Sunday and you and me are trying to make the playoffs." Guys that play like that...

I can't tell (EA) what to do because every year they do something better. Some years they take a little step back. I think this year with that glitch (Harrison and Manning play) was a step back. The games get better and better. You know, when you go online you can't go for it on 4th and 23. That realism is what it's all about.

Any other games you like?
Rucker: I got to give big ups to Tiger's game. Every year it gets better than the year before.

Didn't you sing at his wedding?
Rucker: Yeah, he's my boy. We've known each other for a long time. But his game, I keep telling him, "When am I going to be on the video game?"

You've never played him?
Rucker: I've played golf with Tiger

No. We don't care about that, man.
Rucker: No? (laughter). On his videogame? No, most of the times we get together is at some function or playing a round of golf. We've talked about playing online, but he likes to play those shoot-em-up games. I play those but I'm not very good at those. I love those games and their great games to get into on the bus but on a Tuesday night and I'm sitting around when Boise State is playing on TV...I want to play football.

You should see my set up. My middle TV is a 60 inch. I got two 42-inches at the bottom and two 36-inches at the top. And then on a totally different wall to the left, I got a 60-inch for my gaming. I can use it for regular TV too but I use it almost exclusively for gaming.

You've got the full gaming experience.
Rucker: Oh. When my friends come over, and we want to play Madden,...one of my pet peeves about Madden is when guys try to watch each other call their plays. When we play, we go online and one guy faces one way and the other guy faces the other way and there's no way to watch each other call plays.

I want to shift to music for a second. What do you listen to most of your music on?
Rucker: I have an iTouch.

Darius Rucker is hitting it big in country music.

(Credit: Capitol Records Nashville)

What do you think of the quality?
I use those noise-canceling headphones by Sony. It sounds great. It doesn't sound like it does in my house, with all the bottom that I like. You can get bottom but not true bottom like you can feel it in your butt. But it sounds great. I still like the sound of records, you know. But I can't believe technology has come this far. I remember just 10 or 12 years ago getting a 100-disc changer and I thought it was the greatest thing ever invented. Now, I got 4,000 songs on something that I can hold in my hand. They could sound like crap and I'd be OK with it.

So you aren't one of those guys who are afraid of digital music and how it's overtaken the industry?
Rucker: I can't let stuff like that scare me because it's going to happen. I'm not going to stop digital music from happening. I'm not going to stop downloading. I just want to make records. I don't worry about that stuff. As soon as they get it to where it's hard to pirate, it's going to be a great way to deliver music. I can get my music now and you'll send me the cover later. Awesome.

Rucker: How do you like your transition to country music?
I love music. I have always loved country music. I love singing, I love where I am. The band I'm playing with, I don't feel like I'm doing much different. When I was with Hootie & the Blowfish, the crowd wasn't that much different...there's just a few more guys in the crowd wearing cowboy hats.

UPDATE: 3:29 p.m. PT: To include Roku's statement.

Netflix, the Web's top video rental store, has corrected a glitch that has plagued some customers of the company's streaming-video service for several weeks, Netflix said Friday.

Beginning in mid-November, owners of Roku's Netflix Player and Microsoft's Xbox 360 began complaining on Web forums about seeing dramatic drop-off in video quality and long buffering delays, which prevented them watching films.

This was the first setback for Netflix's streaming service, which has won accolades since last spring when the Roku box made its debut and helped users transfer video streamed from the Web to TV sets. Microsoft, LG Electronics, and Samsung followed with their own set-top boxes featuring Netflix's service.

With the rollout of the service, many observers have said that Netflix is closer to the holy grail of Web video--jumping from the PC to the living room--than Apple, or any other competitor.

Netflix notified customers of the fix on the company's blog.

"Recently some Netflix members using Roku or Xbox movie players noticed lower quality streaming than they had experienced earlier," the company said. "This was a temporary issue that we believe we have resolved. Working with our content distribution partners and key carriers, we made some specific changes that should restore everyone's experience to where it was before - high quality streaming."

The company declined to identify what caused the glitch.

Some frustrated customers expressed gratitude to the company for finally acknowledging the glitch and finding a fix. Said one person who posted a comment to Netflix's blog: "Thanks for stepping up to this problem."

Nobody is likely more relieved than Roku. For a week, the company was criticized by frustrated by device owners who erroneously thought the company was at fault.

"Roku is pleased Netflix has resolved the issue," the startup said in an statement, "but we will continue to closely monitor streams to make sure our customers get the best quality experience."

Some owners of Microsoft's Xbox 360 who have signed up to receive movies via Netflix's streaming movie service have seen the same loss of video quality as owners of Roku's Netflix Player.

A mysterious glitch has been hobbling video streams distributed by the two set-top boxes for at least two weeks, said a source close to Netflix on Thursday. The problem is the first setback for Netflix's streaming, which has won accolades since the $99 Roku box debuted last spring. Microsoft, LG Electronics, and Samsung followed with their own set-top boxes featuring Netflix's service. Microsoft did not respond to an interview request.

Those affected by the problem have been frustrated by long delays before a movie is playable and "unwatchable," according to one Roku box owner. Steve Swasey, Netflix's spokesman confirmed the company is working on a fix but declined to discuss which set-top boxes have seen a drop-off in video quality. He said the glitch is affecting a relatively small number of Netflix users.

"We can't stress highly enough that we want everyone's experience to be the best it can be," Swasey said. "We've seen the (complaints on the message boards). It's a small number of people involved but we don't want to diminish the fact that's it important."

The malfunction has apparently stumped Netflix and Roku engineers for weeks. Roku, which counts Netflix as one of its financial backers, asked those affected by the problem to post information on the company's forums that could help the company pinpoint the problem, such as their ISP, what kind of connection speeds they typically get, and what part of the country they live in.

Earlier this week Roku posted a message on the forum asking any San Francisco Bay Area residents having problems whether they would mind letting engineers poke around their system for clues. Netflix has also been working hard on the problem, Swasey said.

"We're doing all of the analysis we can," Swasey said. "We're looking at region, at carriers...we're working diligently to identify the problem. Until we have, we certainly don't want to speculate at all. Look, there's no manual to take off the shelf here. Netflix has created something new here."

Delivering full-length movies over the Web is extremely complicated and has always been plagued with long download times or fuzzy streams. But Netflix is also competing with itself here. The streaming service was free of these kinds of quality issues for six months. Why are they cropping up now?

A Roku executive told me earlier this week that the problems coincided with changes Netflix was making with its content distribution network (CDN). It may be a coincidence but about the same time Roku customers began seeing problems with video quality, some Apple TV owners began complaining on the company's message board about long delays downloading movies.

Apparently Netflix and Sony have solved some of their licensing issues. An unknown number of films from Sony Pictures that disappeared last week from Netflix's streaming service for the Xbox have returned, but still no word on when the rest might be back.

Steve Swasey, a Netflix spokesman, has declined to discuss licensing deals with specific movie studios since last week, after Xbox owners complained that Netflix' streaming service was no longer offering Sony films on the console. Swasey said some of the movies have returned but not all.

"We said earlier that titles come and go," Swasey told CNET News. "That is part of the natural ebb and flow (of these licensing deals). Some titles are back while some are not."

Immediately after the Sony films disappeared, the blogosphere began accusing Sony, the maker of the PlayStation video game console, of trying to stick it to rival Microsoft, the maker of the Xbox. What really happened was Netflix didn't have a licensing deal with Sony that covered the Xbox and several other boxes that offer Netflix's streaming service, according to my film industry sources.

Sony films will no doubt be back on Xbox as soon as the studio and Netflix can come to terms. The big question I have is why Netflix didn't have these deals in place well before now?

(Credit: CNET Networks)

UPDATE 5:20 p.m.: To include Sony statement

There's a lot being written about the disappearance of Sony films from Xbox's Netflix streaming service, and most of it is wrong.

Several blogs have suggested that Sony pulled movies from Columbia Pictures, owned by Sony, because it has a problem with Microsoft or the Xbox. That isn't the case. It turns out that Netflix simply didn't get a licensing deal done with Sony that included the Xbox or some of Netflix's other distribution partners, according to sources close to the situation. This is a bad goof on Netflix's part.

"This issue is not specific to Xbox or any other individual platform," Sony said in an e-mail statement on Wednesday evening. "Sony Pictures is currently in discussions with the relevant parties to resolve certain licensing matters related to the distribution of its motion pictures. Given the ongoing nature of these discussions, we don't think it is appropriate to comment further at this time."

Steve Swasey, Netflix's spokesman, refused to discuss any specific studio licensing deals but did say that titles "come in and out of licensing all the time." He acknowledged that some movies once offered as part of the Netflix streaming service on Xbox aren't there anymore. He said the company hopes it's only temporary.

Netflix has done a great job of moving streaming movies from the Internet to TV sets with the Netflix Player from Roku and by partnering to offer its streaming service via Xbox.

But one of the main complaints I have with the streaming service is that it's still light on titles. If Netflix loses those they already have, they're frustrating customers and hurting themselves. This is the kind of basic blocking and tackling the Netflix guys are typically so good at.

(Note to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: Don't flub this kind of thing. I'm sure you're aware some of the studios were lukewarm about Xbox offering Netflix and would have preferred to see Microsoft build its own film offering).