Netflix reduces Instant Watch restrictions

iTunes expected to announce rental option

By Ned Randolph -- Video Business, 1/14/2008

JAN. 14 | Netflix tried to get a jump on Apple’s expected announcement about rental downloads by lifting time restrictions for its Instant Watching feature, which streams TV and movie content from the Netflix Web site directly onto a Windows-based PC.

Netflix previously limited its 7 million subscribers’ viewing time based on their subscription plan. Now, Instant Watching is unlimited for all plans except the cheapest $4.99 a month service, which is limited to two DVDs a month and two hours of Instant Watching.

Of the 90,000 titles Netflix touts in its DVD library, about 6,000 of them are available for PC streaming.

Many of the titles are specialty features that Netflix chooses to drive traffic to its Web site. The latest is a documentary on the NFL draft. Other titles include the complete first season of TV show Heroes, the award-winning international hit Pan's Labyrinth and indie documentary Super Size Me.

Instant Watching also will be available on an LG Electronics-made set-top box that will go on sale later this year.

Netflix has kept viewing numbers for the service close to the vest. In June, it reported that Instant Watching had doubled in its first six months to 10 million movies and TV episodes. It has now been available for a year.

At the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco tomorrow, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is expected to announce a rental service for the iTunes store, which would charge as much as $3.99 per movie. The titles could be downloaded and played for up to 24 hours.

Jobs also is expected to announce upgrades to Apple TV, which at $299 has failed to catch on with consumers.

LG Electronics hasn’t disclosed the price of its Netflix box, which is expected to debut in late summer or early fall.