Netflix Blames Apple for Lack of Watch Instantly on the Mac

Takes on Tech interviewed Netflix's VP of Corporate Communications Steve Swasey at CES, and they talked about the LG partnership, the HD DVD / Blu-ray battle, Watch Instantly Macintosh support, and more.

Swasey blamed Apple for the delay in launching Watch Instantly for the Mac, since Apple will not license the FairPlay digital rights management technology.

Comments

[Heathen]

And Apple will come back and say that NF shouldn't use FairPlay...and the childish corporate dance continues.

[Lydia]

Bogus. There are dozens of sites that stream video on the Mac with no problem at all. Netflix made a bad choice to go with the wrong technology and Mac users are paying for it. Mac users end up subsidizing everyone else's Watch Now memberships.

[E]

Bogus? The studios require DRM. What DRM scheme is available for the Mac? FairPlay. And Apple won't license it...yeah it's Netflix's problem :)

[Edward R Murrow]

Not only should Apple license FairPlay to a competitor, they should just give this strategic asset (FairPlay) away. While Apple is at it, why don't they just implement WatchNow for Netflix for free.

Seriously, why would Apple license something as strategic as FairPlay to a competitor? It makes more sense for Apple to just let Netflix do their own thing on the Mac platform.

[macdude22]

Again I have to call shenanigans, hulu.com works on the mac, and being a product of "the studios" I would assume it has some sort of DRM mechanism. I would question the logic as to why it's Apple's concern to provide Netflix with any form of DRM. Seems to me Apple's concern is providing me with a working computer, which they have. If Netflix needs DRM tell them to make their own, audible seems to manage. Whatever happened to the silverlight technology, they demoed that months and months ago and not a peep since then.

[jmac]

That's funny, I have no problem at all watching the Networks' streaming content, and ABC even streams HD content to my G5 mac.

But that's ok, I've changed my 4-out plan that I've had for over four years to 1-out (tv series are the only shows keeping me with N-flix) and use Redbox for my new releases.

The only reason I made this change was lack of Watch Now on the mac.

[Lydia]

E,

Explain, then, how all of the networks manage to stream their DRM content on my Mac.

Bogus.

[Rob O'Connell]

Blaming Apple/FairPlay is a cop-out. It's like saying "Apple hasn't made it super easy for us". Netflix can make their own solution just fine.

And to add to the lis:t Hulu.com does it - I've watched many streamed movies and shows in great fullscreen as part of their beta.

and I'll second that bogus.

[scotty321]

This is SUCH BULLSHIT. Apple's FairPlay DRM works on ALL MAJOR PLATFORMS: Macs and PC's... and even iPods! Netflix chose a proprietary Microsoft DRM method based on Windows Media Player, which Microsoft will NOT make available to Mac users. So it is NETFLIX that made the wrong choice here.

[Orwell Lives: The Big Lie]

This PR guy isn't consciously lying, but what about this?

Apple runs FairPlay in iTunes for iPods, iPhones, Macs AND PCs.

It's too bad the PR guy wasn't savvy enough to say:

"It's Microsoft's strategy to withhold it's DRM from the Mac OS and we are waiting for them to change that, 'cause it harm's us, customers, and MS, itself. ""Just another dumb ass move by MS!"-tm

[Rob]

Just because FairPlay works on many platforms doesn't make it available to Netflix, on this Netflix is correct. But so is Apple. Jobs has made the point if he shares FairPlay the risks of decryption are too high.

On the otherhand, Netflix is preparing to use Silverlight, which will soon support Mac with DRM. So I think fairly soon we will have Watch Instantly on the mac, as I think MS has promised DRM this early 2008.

[mansorium]

Well I guess I won't be using "Watch Now" on my iMac anytime soon. Obviously made more frustrating by the fact that Hulu.com and other sites work on the Mac.

[Edward R Murrow]

You'd expect the Corporate Spokes-mouthpiece to spin this issue. Is the reporter so non-technical that he doesn't understand where the DRM problem really is? Or was he afraid of pressing so hard that he would lose his free Netflix subscription?

Quick, how many times did this Netflix dude utter the word 'ubiquitous'? And the word for the day is ---- Ubiquitous!

[MikeHunt]

Netflix opts to use the shitty Microsoft DRM than blames Apple that it doesn't work for everyone. What retards.

Guess I'll just not use Netflix.

Netflix + Microsoft = Notflix

[MikeHunt]

...And I expect Silverlight to have the same staying power as Playsforsure. Seems like anyone who partners with Microsoft gets what they deserve.

[Baff]

Netflix is waiting for Silverlight 1.1 which is expected to come out around March. So some time after that Netflix will make the switch.

Unfortunately, Silverlight 1.1 will not support PowerPC Macs, so any who have not bought a new Mac in the last 2 years will still be left out in the cold.

[Nick]

I really don't care about all this corporate dancing...but Netflix better get this done SOON. I'm missing out on SO MUCH by not being able to watch it on my sweet new Macbook. As the months go by, its more and more frustrating.

[Daniel]

I have to assume anyone who thinks it's so important to watch a movie on a relatively tiny computer screen instead of their TV must be a "movie watcher" and not a true appreciator of the art.

[vw]

Actually if one has an HDTV, one probably has a VGA input, which is what I use to watch it now.

If you want to run watch it nowon your mac you can do it. Just install bootcamp

[vw]

Also netflix needs to fix their crappy watch it now website. it is impossible to search for shows. They at least need a top 50 in each genre.

[Surt]

I'm not particularly familiar with Mac, but wouldn't someone with a PowerPC Mac be able to use VirtualPC to run XP and, as such, be able to use Netflix's Instant Watch?

[Baff]

VirtualPC costs about $250. For that much, I could double my Netflix subscription from 4-at-a-time to 8-at-a-time for a year.

[Surt]

I'm sure the many people with Windows 95, 98, ME and 2000 have the same complaint. Not to mention WebTV, Linux, and Wii's Opera-based internet.

[hypeserver]

This isn't exactly 'new' news. "Steve" from Netflix (reportingly in charge of NF's Watch Instantly feature) posted this on August 9th, 2007. http://blog.netflix.com/2007/08/instant-watching-on-mac-firefox-and.html

[hypeserver]

I only put "Steve" in quotes in my last comment since it is never said that it is Swasey.

[mattd0g]

I don't know a lot of the specifics, but it seems to me that Netflix is licensing movies on WatchNow from the studios and the STUDIOS have not sanctioned a DRM solution that works on the Mac...is Netflix really to blame for this?

[E]

Lydia,

Yes, the networks stream their video on the Mac, but as far as I know, it is trivial to 'RIP' this stream as it is does not have any DRM on the actual file. Things may have changed recently, but this was the case as of a few months ago. This seems to be the issue as studios are worried about this and therefore want DRM. Of course, that can be defeated as well, and DRM is useless as far as I am concerned. But, I believe this is what has held up Netflix as there is very little cross platform DRM support (i know Flash has made this a priority and Silverlight as well, so hopefully we'll see it soon)

[paving]

It goes back to what the studios require of Netflix. In order to offer a large library of streaming content Netflix has to deal with the moronic content owners at the studios and whatever brain-dead DRM scheme they think will save them from the evils of piracy.

Newsflash: If it's on DVD it's available on the internet in higher quality with far less effort than ripping from online streaming sites such as Netflix.

Keep in mind that the writers strike is centered on pay related to online viewing. This is surely holding up a large number of deals for things like Watch Now on Netflix.

As for Apple/Netflix, they are competing at this time in the online video space and can't be expected to say anything nice about each other. This week will show if Apple has a really great product or not, I'm going with "probably not" although the media will pretend it's the best thing since sliced bread.

A subscription model for video works far better than it does for music and conversely with per-item purchasing/renting of songs/movies. Cable TV, for example, has done well with that "subscription" model for 30 years all the while lacking the on-demand functionality that Netflix can offer.

[Kevin]

...Netflix just lost a customer.

[Garblesnorf]

I think Surt brings up the most important point of the whole issue. I haven't seen anywhere online where people are complaining that Netflix's online movies aren't available for Linux or for people with dial-up. Mac fanboys sound arrogant and elitist when they talk about their computers or when they're kissing Steve Jobs' feet like he's the second coming, but release something that doesn't work on a Mac that they actually want and it's discrimination and unfair. Get over it already. You can't be a hip non-conformist AND expect to get something that everyone else gets.

[Jason The Saj]

"Seriously, why would Apple license something as strategic as FairPlay to a competitor?"

Because it starts to be an anti-trust issue when you use one platform to leverage another to exclusion of competitors. In this case Apple is in two separate markets. Namely, Apple Computers and Digital Content.

Studios declare they will only license content for delivery if it is DRM protected. And they will only accept the protection of Apple & Microsoft's DRM systems (two big companies with resources to fix a DRM break or to be sued and compensated).

So Apple refuses to allow Fairplay to be licensed. Microsoft's DRM is not available on the Mac currently.

Mac fan boys with little grey matter rant and rail against Netflix but praise their deity Steve Jobs.

Sure the Networks are now streaming some shows. But they're doing this free. And internally doing it so that if the content is lost it's their fault and also not a big deal since they were giving the content freely anyways. But the content available is EXTREMELY limited.

And yes, other DRM options exist...Joost was mentioned. But Joost doesn't have billions of cash assets like M$ & Apple. So the big studios are leery of letting their content go out via it.

All that said, some studios are changing their tact. And opening up possibilities. However, contracts like Netflix have are probably multi-year contracts. So Netflix is probably bound by such unless the studios alter it. They're not ready for that step yet....

So no, it's not all bologne and hogwash. Hopefully, Mac users will have access soon via Silverlight or such..

[case]

Just PAY Apple the money already, or whatever and let us watch on our Macs! It's that simple... give them a cut and we're good to go.