LOS GATOS, Calif., July 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX), the leading Internet movie subscription service, today announced it will expand into Canada this fall offering unlimited movies and TV episodes streamed instantly to TVs and computers for one low monthly fee. The Canadian launch will mark the first availability of Netflix outside the United States.
Canadian Netflix members will be able to instantly watch a broad array of movies and TV episodes right on their TVs via a range of consumer electronics devices capable of streaming from Netflix, as well as watching on PCs and Macs.
In addition to representing its inaugural international market, Canada will also mark the first streaming-only service promoted by Netflix.
At the time of launch, the Netflix Canadian service will be available in English only, but the company said it expects to add French language capability over time.
I'm happy to see Netflix coming but I'm of the belief that content selection will disappoint the bulk of people around here.
From a high-def review last November
Movies and TV episodes are available in “HD” (AVC encodes oscillating between 1.5 and 5 Mbps) and SD (running just under 600 kbps), with all audio in two-channel, stereo Dolby Digital. There are over 17,000 movie and TV titles. TV shows are a mix of old and new; movies are generally older, given contracts movie studios have in place with pay cable outlets which streaming would violate. “Starz Play” titles are newer releases (anything that’s currently playing on the Starz network), but they don’t appear to be in “HD.”
The reality is that Playstation Network and iTunes are renting / streaming movies at $1.99 to $5.99 per rental depending on the age and type (HD vs SD).
The studios are not going to give NetFlix anything to stream until they have exhausted the $4,99 and $5,99 rentals on PSN and iTunes. (and maybe even the catalogue rentals that are doing well)
Bottom Line.
Though Netflix Streaming may have its uses (digging back in to childhood classics like ‘Voltron’!), and it’s great to bring another feature to the PS3, video/audiophiles need not apply. The current lack of quality will be bothersome. Hopefully, with time, the streaming / video encoding quality will grow along with the selection of “HD” content. For now, enjoy what you can.
I didn't say they were, rather I was speculating as to why they weren't (in the context of j0dest3r's question, which I interpreted as asking whether Cancon rules might stop Netflix from doing DVD shipping here).
Really excited, both as a canadian and as a shareholder.
If you consider their US service of 1 DVD at a time postage fees plan for 8.99$usd/month and they would not offer postage so lower postage fees, we have a decent chance of getting a plan under 10$cdn/month. I finally would have access to a great subscription-based, on-demand service available from my Media center HTPC.
To be clear, I am excited about the upcoming streaming-only Netflix service. Because it is streaming only and there are no postage involved, we have a decent chance of good pricing, similar to the US one.
I would love nothing more than to see a battle emerging between net content providers and ISP caps. Something needs to give, but one side needs a strong front to battle the ISPs. I hope the coming of Netflix can spearhead this movement to unshackle consumers.
Given that most of the largest ISPs (Rogers, Bell, Shaw) are also BDUs in cable or satellite they are going to fight like hell to try to strangle these sorts of services.
Think of this from Rogers' perspective - do you want someone to cancel their cable, depriving you of $50-$100/ month in revenue and start using tons more bandwidth on your internet service which could increase your costs. It is a lose-lose proposition for them - less revenue and higher expenses.
And when you consider the fact that CRTC has never really shown the propensity to have any cojones to protect the consumer (at least they haven't in issues like CableCard, active firewire ports, enforcement of CGMS-A flags, etc) then I am not optimistic that this will be a real option for those who watch lots of TV.
And yet somehow that ecosystem managed to establish itself in the US. I do expect a vicious battle and I hope that there is one. The tree needs to be shaken. At least BDU's have an unfair fighting chance. Not so for Bell Canada against VoIP.
Thanks! Will I be able to DL to something portable like a USB flash drive so I can play back on my PS3 at home? Don't really want to drag the PS3 to work to DL everytime I want a movie.
I hope Netflix can do better with new release movie rentals as opposed to iTunes and PSN (I don't know about Xbox Marketplace). Most brand new releases are usually available for rental only for a quite short period of time. If I decide I want to rent the movie 2 months later, I'm SOL.
Why would they ever remove movies? Wouldn't it be in the best interest of both iTunes, etc, and the studio to leave the movies up as the cost of hard drive space is cheap and any revenue that you would earn is pure profit. Unless the studio is worried that sales through that distribution mechanism will cannibalize sales coming from other forms, like DVD.
Even though I CAN still access BOTH Netflix.com and Netflix.ca from Canada with Google's Chrome browser (but not IE7 or Firefox) and I DON'T use a VPN service, I still prefer to use other websites to see what titles are available for streaming on Netflix.com. Here are the .com ones I use:
I only have dial-up and currently use Zip.ca (has Blu-rays) and Cinemail (No Blu-rays) as my DVD-by-mail services (I don't have a Blu-ray player). Cinemail gets many of the US Imports and older titles faster than Zip, but Zip has more titles available overall (even though many of them don't get ordered for many months or years after the last copy goes missing).
Zip.ca is NOT owned by Netflix or Rogers. Zip bills itself as "Canada's Netflix," but that is just to attract attention, much in the same way that I bill myself as one of Celine Dion's chauffeurs. Zip is actually owned by Momentous (Rob Hall) as is Rogers Video Direct which is just a branded white label version of Zip (at least that's what it looks like, anyway). Zip is planning to offer its streaming and downloading service this Fall (just like it's been hoping to do as far back as 2006).
I hate not being able to post links, but according to a marketnews article: Firmware updates will allow the Netflix streaming-enabled devices to work in Canada. It's just a simple "flick of the switch" to enable the service in Canada.
Quotes:
"If they turn the switch on [for Canada], customers will have full access to that library of movies," a representative from Sharp Canada confirmed to Marketnews contributor Frank Lenk earlier this year.
Toshiba Canada's Lindsay Takashima told us a few months ago that Toshiba was "working closely" with providers in the U.S. like Netflix, and was hopeful that something would happen by the Fall. "It's just a question of them working out the distribution rights."
"The difference between Canada and the U.S. in our products," added LG Canada's Frank Lee, "is a firmware update. Even last year's models can be easily brought up to speed as soon as services are available."
These two quotes are in direct opposition to each other. The second one completely negates the first.
Ever look at the selection on other systems such as XBox Live movies? That's the sort of selection we could expect from this. Is there a reason to assume that the barriers that apply to everybody else are not going to apply to Netflix?
Netflix has announced that before October they will integrate Netflix into the PS3 so a seperate disc will not be required as it is now. That timing should coincide quite nicely with the service launch in Canada.
I don't think I follow your logic, Faston. Netflix has to negotiate their own distribution rights in Canada. What XBox Live is doing does not relate. They have their own agreements in place.
That's why my last line is in the form of a question. What is the reason to assume things will be completely different for Netflix? Money?
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