Netflix Previews Update Beginning of Download Service?

Netflix quietly updated the Windows version of the Netflix Previews feature, and it requires a download component that installs like the Amazon Unbox Player or the Wal-Mart Video Player. Could this be the beginning of the Netflix movie download service?

Netflix is now using the Windows Media Player instead of Flash (like YouTube), and I believe the change was made to help protect the content from theft, and possibly manage downloads in the future. I really think it needs an on-screen volume control, and I'm hoping that Netflix will support downloads on the Mac.

Comments

[Eric]

Wow, The quality is great!

[shoobe01]

Support the Mac? Now its anti-supported. Normally, embedded WMP players just display nothing, and 75% of the time I can download and play in a window. No big deal.

This one seems to have no back door, and actually crashes Safari entirely. Nice.

[FrankLev]

blog owner,

Do you follow the trade papers?

a) Netflix doesn't own any serious content. The content owners don't need Netflix.

Cable prodivers and ISP will be the partners in serious net content delivery. At best players which have massively greater customer bases such as Amazon will be able to take a small piece of rentals -- on the order of $0.05 per.

b) Windows media is not be discussed AT ALL as a DRM for download rentals. It leaks nine ways from sunday.

Previews are advertisements -- this has nothing whatsoever to do with the future course of download rentals.

Be careful of living in a single company bubble fed by wishful thinking. Get out and read how this is really progressing -- Netflix won't be a player at all.

[Becky]

Be careful of living in a single company bubble fed by wishful thinking. Get out and read how this is really progressing -- Netflix won't be a player at all.

He must be new around here.

[HypoPig]

? Is this right? In Explorer I get 'About Macromedia Flash Player 9...' and in Firefox I get 'About Macromedia Flash Player 8...' as an option.

[HypoPig]

Becky, he's probably yet another alias for the trolls.

[mikek]

FrankLev,

I was half-joking that this was a prelude to the Netflix movie download business, but I'll be they're using the previews to get some experience with downloading.

Windows Media Player is used by Amazon (it supports PlaysforSure), Wal-Mart, etc. Everyone knows it's breakable, but so is everything else. What do you propose they use?

It's not wishful thinking, Netflix will announce a download strategy in January. They will have a hybrid offering, and it will have 65,000 DVD's plus a download component.

Let's take a look at the competition, which I've reviewed here:

Walmart: Not interesting in losing the 40% of the DVD retail market, it abandoned DVD-by-mail to Netflix(!) and now allow you to download a movie after you buy the DVD for an additional cost.

Amazon Unbox, iTunes, Cinema Now, Movielink, etc: They only have at most 2,000 movies due to restrictive pay-TV deals and other licensing issues. This will grow slowly over time, but Netflix has the hybrid service opportunity for at least a few years. They're hitting 6 million subscribers this year, and will have a few more years of growth before download becomes a serious business.

I believe that Comcast has less than 800 movies at this time. It's going to be a while before they compete on the number of movies, and have you tried to manage a queue of 300+ movies with your remote? Search through 65,000 movies? I have Comcast Digital servie and I use my Windows Media Center to find movies because the interface is superior.

Blockbuster is potentially a serious short-term competitor. With a growing online service, in-store rentals, and a download component it could slow Netflix's growth.

Amazon, which also owns IMDB, has the potential of taking on Netflix, but they only launched DVD-by-mail in the UK, and will need a hybrid online/mail service to compete at this time. Unbox is a great start, but they have a seriously limited supply of movies right now.

Have you tried Unbox? iTunes? Movielink? Moviebeam? Let me know when you've really taken a look at the market. I've used almost every service, and I write from experience.

BTW, since you read the trades you know that Netflix has been acquiring movies, right? The Red Envelope Entertainment division buys about 100 movies a year.

Also, Netflix has turned Indie hits like Whale Rider into successes, and the studios need Netflix to make $ on the non-blockbuster titles.

Walmart is at war with companies like Disney over downloads, and it's going to be an interesting transition to downloads.

Netflix has taken a business which was run by a few hits a year and turned it into a place where people can easily discover new movies they would have never found at the video store. It's not perfect, but part of the reason that Netflix is growing because of the software. You have seen their million dollar challenge to improve the recommendations, right?

I'm sorry, but you need to read the trades a bit more.

- Mike
http://www.hackingnetflix.com

[Edward R Murrow]

We will all have to wait to see what will be announced in January. If they have content such as Gandhi as implied by the graphic above, I will fall off my chair I will be so surprised.

I'm guessing it will be cooking shows, Red Envelope, etc. downloaded to the PC with no burn option. If this is all they're going to announce then the 'Street' should take them to the woodshed since Netflix must have been working on this for years now.

By the way, ya'll may want to look at Vongo as a company that has download to the PC with the Starz content.

http://www.vongo.com/

[Ricklogic]

Here's another example of the power of the insiders in the movie business regarding downloading (an entirely different space than DVD by mail). Hint - Netflix is probably not an insider. Regardless, Netflix is not going to be the leader in download - they have set themselves up for embarrassment by so boldly stating that they would be the leader. And, absolutely, the Netflix stock price is going to be halved, probably after the expiration date of the December options but definitely if they don't have some miracle to report on January 25th.

From 'Video Business':

FREEMAN'S CLICKSTAR SIGNS MAJOR STUDIOS

Sony, Universal, Warner add films to new movie download service

By Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 12/11/2006

DEC. 11 | Days before its scheduled launch with its first independent film, movie download service ClickStar Inc. announced it has signed major studio deals with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video.

ClickStar, a partnership between Intel Corp. and Morgan Freeman’s Revelations Entertainment, is set to debut 10 Items or Less as a download on the site on Friday, just two weeks after the film debuted in theaters. 10 Items stars Freeman and Paz Vega and is one of a series of independent films that ClickStar plans to make available digitally just weeks after it debuts theatrically.

The three deals announced today will make movies from the studios available on ClickStar the day they debut on DVD as a download-to-own copy or rental...

For the rest of the story:
http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6398956.html

[Edward R Murrow]

Whoa, look at these insiders get out from under this security. Think they know something the rest of us don't?

http://www.form4oracle.com/company-transactions?forms_submit_id=&cik=0001065280&ticker=&transactionType=4&owner=1&minTotal=0&transactionFromDate=01-Nov-2006&transactionToDate=&company-transactions-search=Apply+Filter

MSN Money StockScouter page just knocked them down to a 5 out of 10 because so many financial institutions are selling Netflix stock in a big way:
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/StockRating/srsmain.asp?Symbol=NFLX

[RgCrandall]

Content owners don't need Netflix -
They need www.9thx.com.

I found an incredible company that will take digital media to new heights in profit: www.9thxchange.com. The 9thXchange marketplace is the newest way to bring together buyers and sellers of digital content. The service dramatically reduces content piracy by offering the seller lifetime royalties -- even on exchanges between consumers. Moreover, the service accommodates all technology platforms, file types and creators. I read about The 9thxchange in Crains Detroit recently as well. It’s new and exciting – Reg Crandall

[type-cast]

"They will have a hybrid offering, and it will have 65,000 DVD's plus a download component."

What happened to the other 5,000? They claimed to have 70,000 DVD titles just recently.